paisley Posted August 12, 2007 Report Share Posted August 12, 2007 Tonight is a good night to see meteors. Comet dust will rain down on planet Earth, streaking through dark skies in the annual Perseid meteor shower. While enjoying the anticipated space weather, astronomer Fred Bruenjes recorded a series of many 30 second long exposures spanning about six hours on the night of 2004 August 11/12 using a wide angle lens. Combining those frames which captured meteor flashes, he produced this dramatic view of the Perseids of summer. Although the comet dust particles are traveling parallel to each other, the resulting shower meteors clearly seem to radiate from a single point on the sky in the eponymous constellation Perseus. The radiant effect is due to perspective, as the parallel tracks appear to converge at a distance. Bruenjes notes that there are 51 Perseid meteors in the composite image, including one seen nearly head-on. This year, the Perseids Meteor Shower is expected to peak after midnight tonight, in the moonless early morning hours of August 12. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewRider Posted August 12, 2007 Report Share Posted August 12, 2007 I thought this thread would be about your plans on dropping something tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paisley Posted August 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2007 never say never Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LXQ42 Posted August 12, 2007 Report Share Posted August 12, 2007 too bad it's so cloudy...hopefully the skies will clear tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paisley Posted August 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2007 fingers crossed seemed to work pretty well for sky clearing... sat, drank beer and watched meteors shower down from 1 - 4 amneat... shooting star city Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
popo weenie Posted August 13, 2007 Report Share Posted August 13, 2007 i watched for 2 nights never saw a thingit was to be the 12th then they said the 13thso its over or is it?really was looking forward to it, all i got was a sore neck from looking up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paisley Posted August 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2007 could see them from my backyard in the city (not usually a great vantage for star gazing)... kept looking every direction for a while and almost gave up then saw 2 in a row to the south... set up to watch to the south and saw a few every 2 to 5 minutes or somight be some stragglers tonight, dunno... if you look for them, look south Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
popo weenie Posted August 13, 2007 Report Share Posted August 13, 2007 thanks i was looking north east Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paisley Posted August 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2007 still should be some meteors tonight, maybe tomorrow too... didn't spot any myself until about 2 am or so last night, think the later the better (or earlier, if you get up before dawn) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mousepad Posted August 14, 2007 Report Share Posted August 14, 2007 I'm touring the southwest states and currently in New Mexico and saw hundreds of moteors blazing across the clear desert sky last night. Spectacular! Such a treat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paisley Posted August 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2007 very cool... desert is definitely a place you want to check the night sky from Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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