General Chat

Skygazers are getting ready to watch the annual Perseid meteor shower, which peaks on Wednesday.

The Perseid shower occurs when the Earth passes through a stream of dusty debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle.

As this cometary "grit" strikes our atmosphere, it burns up, often creating streaks of light across the sky.

This impressive spectacle appears to originate from a point called a "radiant" in the constellation of Perseus - hence the name Perseid.

"Earth passes through the densest part of the debris stream sometime on 12 August. Then, you could see dozens of meteors per hour," said Bill Cooke of Nasa's meteoroid environment office.

No special equipment is required to watch the sky show. Astronomers say binoculars might help, but will also restrict the view to a small part of the sky.

The Perseids can appear in any part of the sky, but their tails all point back to the radiant in the constellation Perseus.

In the UK, the best times to see the Perseids are likely to be on the morning of 12 August before dawn and from late evening on the 12th through to the early hours of the 13 August.

This year, light from the last quarter Moon will interfere significantly with the view.

The rock and dust fragments which cause the shower were left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle when it last came near the Sun.

The comet orbits the Sun once every 130 years and last swept through the inner Solar System in 1992.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8193769.stm

I'll look if I remember.

Grandson and I used to go out and watch when he lived here.

Gwyn

Hope it is a clear night

I remember every eclipse, partial or complete, previous meteor showers and every heavenly free show for the last 50 years in the UK

I have tried to witness them all, with little luck. If the events of those 50 years follow tonight, then the sky will be full of clouds, thats for sure !!!!!

Cloudless sky here, so hopeful.........

Gwyn

Hopefully we'll clear skies for once & hopefully the peak won't be at 4am, which I think it was last year.

Steve
:o)

It's sure to be the cynosure of every astronomer tomorrow night.

(See Uzzi's thread: posted 19:11)

Cloudy and raining in South Cheshire :~(

Clear view of the moon, ...What a strange colour !

Can anyone else see that?

Gwyn

Its raining............... no sign of a break in the clouds.

The only showers we are likely to see tonight are wet!!!

It's the same here Ann.

I'm often awake in the middle of the night, so I'll look out to see how clear it is then.


Gwyn

Got up specially ,stood outside for 20 mins and I've seen the grand total of one,and that was out of the corner of my eye !

Well I seen nothing...... It was a total... Waste of time

As I said before - nature lays on a free astronomy show in the UK and nature always sends the clouds.................................................
Living in hopes for tonight, so far the sun is shining.

We had too much cloud cover to see anything.

Hopefully more luck tonight. Although the peak rate was last night, there will still be a number meteors to be seen.

Look out to the NE just below & to the left of Cassiopeia (The big W in the sky) & also try & find somewhere where you see a dark the sky, without too much light pollution. This'll improve the number of meteors you'll be able to see.

Steve.

50% cloud cover where I am, but I live in hopes that at 11 pm it may be clear

Damp squib again, complete cloud cover. Welcome to the UK where the waether forecasters predicted a long hot "BBQ" summer.

BY the way did anyone notice that they have all received a £650 bonus for, (wait for it):

MEETING TARGETS !!!!!!