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from the goodness-gracious-great-balls-of-fire dept.
The Perseid Meteor Shower peaks Sunday night into early Monday, and is expected to remain strong for the next few evenings, so don't miss your chance to spot some fireballs shooting across the night sky.
[...] "The Perseids are best seen between about 2 a.m. your local time and dawn," NASA said in a Perseid blog this week. "If those hours seem daunting, not to worry! You can go out after dark, around 9 p.m. local time, and see Perseids. Just know that you won't see nearly as many as you would had you gone out during the early morning hours."
According to Wikipedia:
The Perseids are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Swift–Tuttle. The meteors are called the Perseids because the point from which they appear to hail (called the radiant) lies in the constellation Perseus.
[...] The shower is visible from mid-July each year, with the peak in activity between 9 and 14 August, depending on the particular location of the stream. During the peak, the rate of meteors reaches 60 or more per hour. They can be seen all across the sky; however, because of the shower's radiant in the constellation of Perseus, the Perseids are primarily visible in the Northern Hemisphere.[8] As with many meteor showers the visible rate is greatest in the pre-dawn hours, since more meteoroids are scooped up by the side of the Earth moving forward into the stream, corresponding to local times between midnight and noon [...] Some can also be seen before midnight, often grazing the Earth's atmosphere to produce long bright trails and sometimes fireballs. Most Perseids burn up in the atmosphere while at heights above 80 kilometres (50 mi).
Also at: space.com, NASA, Time, and National Geographic.
(Score: 2) by ilPapa on Sunday August 12 2018, @11:52PM (7 children)
The viewing has not been good the past few days because of some wildfire over the grade from where I live. It wasn't a big fire, and it's been put out now, but there was enough smoke and ash that it's been getting hazy in the evenings. I guess moisture comes in off the ocean and it captures the smoke, I don't know - it's too complicated for my small brain - but it's just enough to mess up the sky. During the day it's nothing but clear blue, but night comes and the haze is back.
I live in a pretty dark place, and can usually see everything that's going on up there. Wouldn't you know the Perseids come and it goes to shit.
You are still welcome on my lawn.
(Score: 2, Offtopic) by realDonaldTrump on Monday August 13 2018, @02:12AM
Horrible fires in High Tax, Crime Infested California. Many dead (RIP!!!). Man arrested for Arson. Bad environmental laws making fires much worse. Like a magnifying glass. Governor Jerry Brown must allow the Free Flow of the vast amounts of water coming from the North and foolishly being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Can be used for fires, farming and everything else. Think of California with plenty of Water -- Nice! Fast Federal govt. approvals!!!
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Monday August 13 2018, @05:50PM (5 children)
Well, you didn't miss much, if anything.
We were out in very dark skies here in Montana last night from 2Am to 4AM, and didn't see even one.
A complete bust.
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Monday August 13 2018, @06:48PM
I saw 5 Shooting Stars. Not a lot. And nothing special -- VERY SMALL. Not like some I've seen that were very bright with a beautiful red Fire Ball. Remember when that huge meteor hit Russia? Nobody knew it was coming, nobody was ready for that one. Now there's so much hype about "oh, meteor Shower!" But the meteors didn't show up. They hardly showed up. It was the Unite the Right 2 of meteor!!!
(Score: 2) by ilPapa on Wednesday August 15 2018, @02:18AM (3 children)
Dude, that sounds like heaven to me. I'm a big fan of Montana and dark skies.
You are still welcome on my lawn.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by fyngyrz on Wednesday August 15 2018, @06:57PM (2 children)
I hear West Virginia is almost heaven...
:)
Yeah, the skies here are great.
Here's some of my aurora photography [flickr.com]
And here's some of my astro [flickr.com]
..that's all bare camera, no telescope, all shot locally.
(Score: 2) by ilPapa on Thursday August 16 2018, @04:04AM (1 child)
Wow, thanks for sharing that. We live in a psychedelic universe.
You are still welcome on my lawn.
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Thursday August 16 2018, @02:57PM
Indeed we do. :)