Thursday, August 12, 2010

Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight



From Space Weather:
PERSEID METEOR SHOWER: The annual Perseid meteor shower is underway. Earth is passing through a wide stream of debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle, and each time a fleck of comet dust hits Earth's atmosphere--flash!--there is a meteor. Forecasters say the shower will peak on Thursday, August 12th, and Friday, August 13th. You can see Perseids flitting across the sky at any time between about 10 pm on Thursday evening and sunrise on Friday morning. Observers who get away from city lights can expect to count dozens of meteors per hour, especially during the dark hours before dawn.

Tune into spaceweather for full coverage of the shower, including a live meteor radar, a "fireball cam," updated meteor counts and pictures from around the world.

BONUS: If you go outside a little early on Thursday evening, around sunset, you'll see a beautiful gathering of planets in the sunset sky--Venus, Mars, Saturn and the crescent Moon. It's a nice way to start a meteor watch. Sky maps may be found at SpaceWeather.
I am told that this year is one of the best, which explains why we are heavily overcast this year.  Because of that I offer this video of the Meteor Shower as a consolation to those in my circumstances.  ENJOY!

2 comments:

SnoopyTheGoon said...

A piece of advice: if you decided to go out in a shower, at least wear a hard hat. And, maybe, and umbrella.

WomanHonorThyself said...

love it..thanks for the heads up! I'm bacccck! sorta kinda..lol