hot tub night :o)
THE PERSEIDS are predicted to peak overnight on Aug. 12-13, when Earth travels through the middle of a belt of debris laid down in space by comet Swift-Tuttle. But a major obstacle, the moon, will work against attempts to spot the fiery space dust this year. The moon will turn full on Aug. 12, severely hampering observations at just the wrong time. Bright moonlight will flood the sky all through that entire night.
Perseids, named for the constellation Perseus from which they appear to emanate, are typically fast, bright and occasionally leave persistent trains. And every once in a while, a Perseid fireball will blaze forth, bright enough to be quite spectacular and more than capable to attract attention even in bright moonlight.
The Perseid meteors appear to radiate from a point in the constellation Perseus, next door to the W-shaped grouping in northern skies known as Cassiopeia's Chair. Although the "radiant" is in Perseus, the meteors can appear in any part of the sky. Click for a larger map.
Meteors must be viewed with the naked eye. They move too quickly for binoculars or telescopes to be useful. Just lie back on a lounge chair or blanket - to avoid neck strain - and look up. Keep your eyes glued to as wide a region of the sky as possible, in an area away from the moon. Using a tall building, mountain or tree to block the full moon can improve your prospects slightly.
The best time to see Perseid meteors is during the last hours before dawn, when Earth rushes headlong into the cosmic debris stream and scoops the stuff up on the leading edge of the planet. (It’s the same as a car’s front bumper ornament being slapped by more bugs than a rear bumper.) In the absence of moonlight a single observer might see up to 100 meteors per hour on the peak night, a number that sadly cannot be hoped for in 2003. I
Perseids, named for the constellation Perseus from which they appear to emanate, are typically fast, bright and occasionally leave persistent trains. And every once in a while, a Perseid fireball will blaze forth, bright enough to be quite spectacular and more than capable to attract attention even in bright moonlight.
The Perseid meteors appear to radiate from a point in the constellation Perseus, next door to the W-shaped grouping in northern skies known as Cassiopeia's Chair. Although the "radiant" is in Perseus, the meteors can appear in any part of the sky. Click for a larger map.
Meteors must be viewed with the naked eye. They move too quickly for binoculars or telescopes to be useful. Just lie back on a lounge chair or blanket - to avoid neck strain - and look up. Keep your eyes glued to as wide a region of the sky as possible, in an area away from the moon. Using a tall building, mountain or tree to block the full moon can improve your prospects slightly.
The best time to see Perseid meteors is during the last hours before dawn, when Earth rushes headlong into the cosmic debris stream and scoops the stuff up on the leading edge of the planet. (It’s the same as a car’s front bumper ornament being slapped by more bugs than a rear bumper.) In the absence of moonlight a single observer might see up to 100 meteors per hour on the peak night, a number that sadly cannot be hoped for in 2003. I