Perseid meteor shower tonight!

[ezdzit247]

Tonight is supposed to be a really spectacular show....best one since 2009. When I lived in southern California, we would have to drive up to about the 8,000 level of Mt. Baldy to watch the Perseid's. Since I moved to mountains of northern California, all I have to do is walk out the back door and look up at the sky.... It's great!

From NASA & JPL website:

According to NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke, the Perseids are perhaps the most popular meteor shower of the year. They will be in "outburst" in 2016, which means they'll appear at double the usual rates.

"This year, instead of seeing about 80 Perseids per hour, the rate could top 150 and even approach 200 meteors per hour," Cooke said. It's the first such outburst since 2009.

Earth will pass through the path of Comet Swift-Tuttle from July 17 to Aug. 24, with the shower's peak — when Earth passes through the densest, dustiest area — occurring on Aug. 12. That means you'll see the most meteors in the shortest amount of time near that peak, but you can still catch some action from the famed meteor shower before or after that point.....

[positrac]

I wanted to see that in person and I get up at 0300 and so I had to just dream that event.

[ezdzit247]

I wanted to see that in person and I get up at 0300 and so I had to just dream that event.

LOL....Sounds like farmers' hours!

It was a magical event. Lot's of sky watchers sent gorgeous photos to the Spammer website and you can view their photo album in addition to dreaming them....

[Tosh]

We had cloud in the UK at the peak of the Perseid meteor shower - thick cloud - but on the Saturday there was some breaks, but the peak had passed then.

Undeterred I dragged Mrs Tosh and a bewildered elderly dog into a field (to try and escape the light pollution) and we stood there for ten minutes and saw nothing.

I did take a couple of 30 second exposures though; and even though it looks like daylight, it was actually very dark. The moon was out creating light pollution.

But looking at one of the photos, if you look top right, you can see a meteor:



My original suggestion was that we go to an old abandoned church and graveyard that's on top of a hill - I thought I might be to get a great photo of the run down church with the sky behind it - but Mrs Tosh said "No way!" and I'm not man enough to stand in a really creepy location alone.

[ezdzit247]

Yup. That's definitely a meteor. Gorgeous photo, Tosh. Thanks....