The Perseids - Don't Forget to Look Up!

The Mechanic said:
It's that time of the year again!

Hopefully there wont' be clouds. This summer in the N/E of Scotland has been pretty cloudy. sigh

For those in the north:

_http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/features/The-Sky-in-June-Perseids.6448191.jp
The Sky in August: Perseids should produce the best meteor display of 2010

Published Date: 30 July 2010
By Alan Pickup

The three planets that have graced our western evening sky over recent months are now dipping inconveniently low into the twilight and two of them will be lost from view during August. On the other hand, Jupiter is climbing to prominence on the opposite side of the sky and the Perseids meteor shower is poised to provide what should be our best meteor display of the year on the night of the 12th/13th.

The Sun slips almost 10° southwards during August to bring the welcome return of true night-time darkness over the whole of Scotland, including the Northern Isles. By our map times, and provided we can escape from light pollution, the Milky Way is a striking sight as it soars upwards in the south through Aquila and Cygnus before swooping down through Cepheus, Cassiopeia and Perseus in the north-east.
 
rylek said:
The Mechanic said:
It's that time of the year again!

Hopefully there wont' be clouds. This summer in the N/E of Scotland has been pretty cloudy. sigh

Aww, that's too bad. You have some more nights to watch though, we're not at the peak yet. Hopefully the sky will clear for you in the upcoming nights. We had a clear sky in Holland last night. Did EE in my garden again and saw three more meteorites. Doing EE while looking at the stars is pretty enjoyable! :)
 
Mr Mechanic said:
rylek said:
The Mechanic said:
It's that time of the year again!

Hopefully there wont' be clouds. This summer in the N/E of Scotland has been pretty cloudy. sigh

Aww, that's too bad. You have some more nights to watch though, we're not at the peak yet. Hopefully the sky will clear for you in the upcoming nights. ...

Another rainy night last night with really heavy downpour. There are a few more days to go, maybe tonight will be brighter.

Mr Mechanic said:
We had a clear sky in Holland last night. Did EE in my garden again and saw three more meteorites. Doing EE while looking at the stars is pretty enjoyable!

Nice, that sounds like the best way to do some meteor spotting :)
 
Cloudy and rainy here last night here as well, altough I think I spotted one accidentally through a small window in the roof and right through the clouds :)
 
Thanks for the reminder, Mechanic!... today's the weather is super hot and cloudless, and this week forecast seems to favor sky watching at night :wizard:
 
I got up and stayed up for about an hour and a half last night. The skies were partly cloudy, but even with the clouds there were still plenty of meteors to see. There was lightening to the north too so it made for quite an exciting show! Wonderful time of year for sky watching. :)
 
I got back a little while ago from watching the showers with my wife and sister. The sky was crystal clear with not a cloud in sight, but the high winds in the mountains made it uncomfortable to stay for long. We saw maybe a couple dozen meteors altogether over the span of a couple of hours, and somewhere around 6 of those were very bright with long tails that persisted in the sky for a moment. If I had my bearings right, most of the ones we saw were far in the horizon to the west, traveling west. We could also clearly see the Milky Way and it was very beautiful. Most of the meteors we saw 'followed' the direction of it down towards the horizon. One meteor to is one that went the clear opposite direction of all of the others and seemed to pulse lightly a couple of times before dissipating. It looked like chunks were breaking off of it and causing a flare-up as the additional rock material was exposed to the atmosphere.

On top of the meteors - we all observed some "UFO" type activity. It was when we first pulled over to skywatch, the wind was blowing very hard and we were trying to pull our blankets around us and sit down. My sister and I saw a bright orange ball or orb very close to us. I saw something about as big as a marble zoom by within a few feet of me, and it looked like a "magic" fireball in that it simultaneously appeared to burn, while not appearing to burn. It was multicolored but an orangish-red was the predominant color. Towards the back of the orb (on the side of it opposite its direction of travel) it was black. My sister said she saw something bigger, almost softball in size, but further away. My wife didn't see it at the time, but later we relocated and my sister and I retreated into the car while she stayed laying in a patio chair and she saw something fairly close, but up in the sky and that matches what my sister and I saw. I also saw something else the first time, that my sister didn't see. A peak in front of us light up bright orange for a quick second, as if one of those orbs had flown by it and illuminated it. The color of light cast on the top of the peak was very much orange and not at all white or yellow like that of a headlight. Further, the face of the peak that lit up does not have a road on the opposite side, and it never illuminated any other time, and there were several cars that drove both directions.

Another, smaller thing is that at the second place we pulled over at there was some small animal very close to the car. It looked like a rabbit, and acted like one, but it was one heck of a big rabbit, especially for something like 8-9K feet up a mountain. I'm a fairly avid camper and I have never seen a rabbit that big in this state (Colorado), but perhaps I just haven't been looking hard enough. In New Mexico I once saw a jackrabbit that was about the size of this thing. I went to approach it but it kept backing up. It was acting just like I see small city rabbits acting, except much bigger.

All in all, it was a pretty cool experience for all of us. Kinda wished I had checked the weather further and worn warmer clothes so we could've stayed longer. We might go back tomorrow night, better prepared.
 
This year, the Perseids, the most widely observed and dependable of the annual meteor displays, will peak during the overnight hours of Monday, Aug. 11 into the morning of Friday, Aug. 12.
http://www.space.com/33671-perseids-get-a-boost-from-jupiter.html

So get ready :)
 
The arrival of the Perseids, remind me a sign of Cassiopeia. For the daughter of Cassiopeia is Andromeda. Andromeda and Perseus had children, who are the Perseids. Maybe this will be conducive to dreams .. :)
 
casper said:
This year, the Perseids, the most widely observed and dependable of the annual meteor displays, will peak during the overnight hours of Monday, Aug. 11 into the morning of Friday, Aug. 12.
http://www.space.com/33671-perseids-get-a-boost-from-jupiter.html

So get ready :)

It's Thursday, August 11, not a Monday. I know it's a typing error. :)
Just a tiny correction so others will not be confused with dates.

And , yes, I'm ready to see this year show.
 
Konstantin said:
casper said:
This year, the Perseids, the most widely observed and dependable of the annual meteor displays, will peak during the overnight hours of Monday, Aug. 11 into the morning of Friday, Aug. 12.
http://www.space.com/33671-perseids-get-a-boost-from-jupiter.html

So get ready :)

It's Thursday, August 11, not a Monday. I know it's a typing error. :)
Just a tiny correction so others will not be confused with dates.

And , yes, I'm ready to see this year show.

:dance: :bacon: hopefully the skies clear up here!
 
Marina9 said:
Konstantin said:
casper said:
This year, the Perseids, the most widely observed and dependable of the annual meteor displays, will peak during the overnight hours of Monday, Aug. 11 into the morning of Friday, Aug. 12.
http://www.space.com/33671-perseids-get-a-boost-from-jupiter.html

So get ready :)

It's Thursday, August 11, not a Monday. I know it's a typing error. :)
Just a tiny correction so others will not be confused with dates.

And , yes, I'm ready to see this year show.

:dance: :bacon: hopefully the skies clear up here!

:cry: Too bad, i will be working on Thursday night, maybe next year will be more lucky. :halo:
 
spaceweather reports on 10/08/2016:

Last night in Milton, New Hampshire, Vytas Cerniauskas and his 14-year-old son looked up and saw a filamentary cloud lit up by the waxing quarter Moon. They might have mistaken it for a perfectly ordinary cloud or contrail except for one thing--it was preceded by a bright explosion. "A low-altitude fireball lit up the sky, leaving behind this smokey trail of debris," says Cerniauskas.

Vytas-Cerniauskas--image_1470793027_lg.jpg


Could be from the Perseids or not. For those lucky to have a clear sky in the Northern hemisphere, it's worth watching. In order to catch even the dimmest meteors, it's best to get used to the dark, not using any lights for more than half an hour (no phone, no flashlight except a red light maybe). It's also preferable to start after the moon sets down. Comfort and safety and fun.
 
Even though I am in South Florida, still hoping to catch a little of the show! If not, will just have to look at video of the show.
 
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