http://www.latimes.com/science/scien...812-story.html

Perseid meteor shower peaks tonight: Tips on how to see it

By Deborah Netburn contact the reporter
Space ExplorationPerseid Meteor ShowerNASASupermoon

The Perseid meteor shower peaks tonight and you don't want to miss it.

The Perseid meteor shower is usually one of the most prolific meteor
showers of the year, with an estimated peak of 30 to 40 meteors zooming
across the sky per hour.

This year, however, observers should expect a slightly less spectacular
show, as the lingering effects of Sunday evening's super bright,
supermoon will drown out some of the fainter meteors.

"What the moon is doing is lighting up the whole sky, it's like nature's
own light pollution," said Alan MacRobert, of Sky and Telescope
magazine. "It will reduce the number of faint meteors you can see, but
you can still see the bright ones."

He added that committed meteor watchers could still see an average of
one meteor every five minutes tonight, so it's certainly worth trying!

The Perseid meteor shower occurs each year as the Earth passes through a
stream of ancient bits of dust and ice left in the wake of comet
Swift-Tuttle. As the Earth goes barreling through the stream, small
pieces of comet detritus slam into our planet and burn up in our
atmosphere, causing what looks like shooting stars to streak across the sky.

Swift-Tuttle is in a 133-year orbit around the sun, and the people of
Earth have been enjoying this late summer light show for at least 2,000
years. According to NASA, the shooting stars we can expect to see
tonight could be caused by dust that has been hanging out in space for
as long as 1,000 years.

The best time to see the show is after 11 p.m. time, when the
constellation Perseus is high in the sky. If you are willing to wait
until 3 a.m. that's even better, but not essential.

Grab a blanket or a reclining lawn chair and get yourself to a big, wide
open view of the sky. You'll want to face away from the moon, because
its bright glare will mess up your night vision. Also, try to stop
yourself from looking at your cell phone. You want to let your eyes get
used to the dark with no bright light interruptions. Then, lay back and
relax and with a little luck, you should enjoy a beautiful natural light
show.

For those of you who prefer to do their sky gazing on the computer (or
if you just can't get outside at the shower's peak), NASA will live
stream a view of the meteor shower from the Marshall Space Flight Center
in Huntsville, Ala. The agency is also hosting a live chat with a team
of meteor experts.

Happy sky watching!

"Travis McGee" > wrote in message
...
> http://www.latimes.com/science/scien...812-story.html
>
> Perseid meteor shower peaks tonight: Tips on how to see it
>
> By Deborah Netburn contact the reporter
> Space ExplorationPerseid Meteor ShowerNASASupermoon
>
> The Perseid meteor shower peaks tonight and you don't want to miss it.
>
> The Perseid meteor shower is usually one of the most prolific meteor
> showers of the year, with an estimated peak of 30 to 40 meteors zooming
> across the sky per hour.
>
> This year, however, observers should expect a slightly less spectacular
> show, as the lingering effects of Sunday evening's super bright, supermoon
> will drown out some of the fainter meteors.
>
> "What the moon is doing is lighting up the whole sky, it's like nature's
> own light pollution," said Alan MacRobert, of Sky and Telescope magazine.
> "It will reduce the number of faint meteors you can see, but you can still
> see the bright ones."
>
> He added that committed meteor watchers could still see an average of one
> meteor every five minutes tonight, so it's certainly worth trying!
>
> The Perseid meteor shower occurs each year as the Earth passes through a
> stream of ancient bits of dust and ice left in the wake of comet
> Swift-Tuttle. As the Earth goes barreling through the stream, small pieces
> of comet detritus slam into our planet and burn up in our atmosphere,
> causing what looks like shooting stars to streak across the sky.
>
> Swift-Tuttle is in a 133-year orbit around the sun, and the people of
> Earth have been enjoying this late summer light show for at least 2,000
> years. According to NASA, the shooting stars we can expect to see tonight
> could be caused by dust that has been hanging out in space for as long as
> 1,000 years.
>
> The best time to see the show is after 11 p.m. time, when the
> constellation Perseus is high in the sky. If you are willing to wait until
> 3 a.m. that's even better, but not essential.
>
> Grab a blanket or a reclining lawn chair and get yourself to a big, wide
> open view of the sky. You'll want to face away from the moon, because its
> bright glare will mess up your night vision. Also, try to stop yourself
> from looking at your cell phone. You want to let your eyes get used to the
> dark with no bright light interruptions. Then, lay back and relax and with
> a little luck, you should enjoy a beautiful natural light show.
>
> For those of you who prefer to do their sky gazing on the computer (or if
> you just can't get outside at the shower's peak), NASA will live stream a
> view of the meteor shower from the Marshall Space Flight Center in
> Huntsville, Ala. The agency is also hosting a live chat with a team of
> meteor experts.
>
> Happy sky watching!

*sigh* We're in for another thunder storm. Yesterday reminded me of living
in NY when we had that long power outage. We had record high heat, then not
long after I got home, we had hail, lightning and thunder. Expected to hit
again any minute now and this one will be worse, continuing into tomorrow
afternoon. We didn't lose power but lots of places did. Swamp cooler does
no good with high humidity.

I love to watch the sky but this kind of weather doesn't make for good
viewing.

On Wednesday, August 13, 2014 1:41:24 AM UTC-5, John wrote:
> On Tue, 12 Aug 2014 20:01:50 -0400, Travis McGee >
>
> wrote:
>
>
>
> >http://www.latimes.com/science/scien...812-story.html
>
> >
>
> >Perseid meteor shower peaks tonight: Tips on how to see it
>
>
>
> Would you also have tips for how the meteor can see Bryan?
>
You're funny. I am thinking about driving away from the city to see the
meteor shower. I might have cause to celebrate tonight. There are tentative
plans for a big family canoe/kayak trip in a few weeks, and I could do some
campsite prep work, especially with constructing the "latrine system," which
consists of a well cleared and marked trail to an area with a bunch of pre-dug
cat-holes, and an *in use* marker at the start of the trail. It's much better
to dig the holes before they're needed than when they're needed.
>
> John

--Bryan

On 8/12/2014 7:01 PM, Travis McGee wrote:
> http://www.latimes.com/science/scien...812-story.html
>
>
> Perseid meteor shower peaks tonight: Tips on how to see it
>
> By Deborah Netburn contact the reporter
> Space ExplorationPerseid Meteor ShowerNASASupermoon
>
> The Perseid meteor shower peaks tonight and you don't want to miss it.
>
> The Perseid meteor shower is usually one of the most prolific meteor
> showers of the year, with an estimated peak of 30 to 40 meteors zooming
> across the sky per hour.
>
> This year, however, observers should expect a slightly less spectacular
> show, as the lingering effects of Sunday evening's super bright,
> supermoon will drown out some of the fainter meteors.
>
> "What the moon is doing is lighting up the whole sky, it's like nature's
> own light pollution," said Alan MacRobert, of Sky and Telescope
> magazine. "It will reduce the number of faint meteors you can see, but
> you can still see the bright ones."
>
> He added that committed meteor watchers could still see an average of
> one meteor every five minutes tonight, so it's certainly worth trying!
>
> The Perseid meteor shower occurs each year as the Earth passes through a
> stream of ancient bits of dust and ice left in the wake of comet
> Swift-Tuttle. As the Earth goes barreling through the stream, small
> pieces of comet detritus slam into our planet and burn up in our
> atmosphere, causing what looks like shooting stars to streak across the
> sky.
>
> Swift-Tuttle is in a 133-year orbit around the sun, and the people of
> Earth have been enjoying this late summer light show for at least 2,000
> years. According to NASA, the shooting stars we can expect to see
> tonight could be caused by dust that has been hanging out in space for
> as long as 1,000 years.
>
> The best time to see the show is after 11 p.m. time, when the
> constellation Perseus is high in the sky. If you are willing to wait
> until 3 a.m. that's even better, but not essential.
>
> Grab a blanket or a reclining lawn chair and get yourself to a big, wide
> open view of the sky. You'll want to face away from the moon, because
> its bright glare will mess up your night vision. Also, try to stop
> yourself from looking at your cell phone. You want to let your eyes get
> used to the dark with no bright light interruptions. Then, lay back and
> relax and with a little luck, you should enjoy a beautiful natural light
> show.
>
> For those of you who prefer to do their sky gazing on the computer (or
> if you just can't get outside at the shower's peak), NASA will live
> stream a view of the meteor shower from the Marshall Space Flight Center
> in Huntsville, Ala. The agency is also hosting a live chat with a team
> of meteor experts.
>
> Happy sky watching!

If you enjoy watching meteor showers, try to catch the Quadrantids in
early January, but it only last for 8 hours, the Perseids will last for
2 days.

My favorite meteor showers are the Geminids around December 14th, they
have a ZHR around 120, but a few years ago, the ZHR reached almost 200.
We live in the middle of town, so there is too much light to see
anything, so we travel every year during this meteor shower, in hopes of
seeing a good show. I keep my fingers crossed that the skies will not be
cloudy.

Becca