Perseid Meteor Shower

[James M]

It's the Perseids on Sunday and it looks like it could be a good one as there is no moon. It's something I look forward to every year, last year I saw 20 and that was with lots of light pollution.

[agrumpycow]

Originally Posted by James M

It's the Perseids on Sunday and it looks like it could be a good one as there is no moon. It's something I look forward to every year, last year I saw 20 and that was with lots of light pollution.

Complete ignorant here - What is it, do I need a telescope and what would I see?

[James M]

Hi, well I'm rubbish at explanations so I will leave that to good old wikipedia

Meteor shower - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Perseids - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

and here are two article that I found on the Perseids this year:

This year's meteor shower - Times Online


NASA - Great Perseids

[nightshade]

I think we (the earth) run through the tail of a comet and meteors are the debris pulled in by the earths gravity 12 08 07 is a new moon so you should be able to see the shower
quite well with binos

[agrumpycow]

Thanks for the info and the links James. Sounds interesting, although, living in the centre of Reading I may have to travel a bit further out to see it!

[Billy Wobble Dagger]

Originally Posted by James M

It's the Perseids on Sunday and it looks like it could be a good one as there is no moon. It's something I look forward to every year, last year I saw 20 and that was with lots of light pollution.

I've spotted the odd "shooting star" in the East over the last few evenings. Could that be part or the start of it?

I love watching the night sky, but only with the naked eye, watching the satellites wizz over. I think Venus is low in the early evening sky again, such mystery

Looking forward to the next few nights now, thanks for the heads up.


BWD

[James M]

Originally Posted by Billy Wobble Dagger

I've spotted the odd "shooting star" in the East over the last few evenings. Could that be part or the start of it?

I love watching the night sky, but only with the naked eye, watching the satellites wizz over. I think Venus is low in the early evening sky again, such mystery

Looking forward to the next few nights now, thanks for the heads up.


BWD

Yeah it could be as they can be seen from 25 Jul (albeit very few and far between) slowly increasing to the peak on the 12th and then can be seen but decreasing each night until the 18th. This is according to my book Guide to Stars and Planets by Patrick Moore anyway.

[Jolanta Zofia Nowak]

Drat.

I've just gone outside, keen to pick up a few 'shooters' and guess what...? The flawless blue sky of the afternoon is now a mass of cloud!

[paulchandler6]

Just been out in the garden for the last 30 mins and had 3 "shooters". 1 being quite bright and lasting about 3 seconds.
Also 2 hedgehogs, 1 bat (pipistrelle) and several moths. Cheers

[Billy Wobble Dagger]

We spent a magical hour in the garden last night and saw 8 shooting stars, one very bright and long. Will do the same tonight and tomorrow night.

I've changed my mind on what I thought might have been Venus. It didn't seem to be as orange as I remember. It just looked like a very bright star low in the south. Silly question could it have been the space shuttle? I've never seen such a bright star in that location before.

BWD