SUNDAY, AUGUST 11
■ It's peak Perseid meteor night! And maybe the first of two. The actual peak of the shower is supposed to be from about 13h to 16h UT on the 12th, which is 9 a.m. to noon on the 12th Eastern Daylight Time; 6 to 9 a.m. Pacific Daylight time. That's not long after the ideal Perseid meteor-watching hours before dawn. But who knows, the next night could be just as good or nearly so.
In early evening the meteors will be few, but those that do appear will be Earth-grazers skimming far across the top of the atmosphere. As the hours pass and the shower's radiant (in northern Perseus near Cassiopeia) rises higher in the northeast, the meteors will become shorter and more numerous. The first-quarter Moon sets around 11 p.m. daylight-saving time, leaving the sky nicely dark. The shower's radiant continues to gain altitude until dawn puts an end to the show.
By 11 p.m. daylight-saving time Perseus is climbing up the northeastern sky. And the shower's radiant point, next the pointy hat on the Perseus stick figure and below Cassiopeia, is already high enough for the shower to be a little more than half as active as it will be when the radiant is much higher just before dawn. That's for an observer near 40° north latitude. For observers farther south Perseid rates all night will be a bit less, especially during the evening.
Sky & Telescope
Layer up warmly even if the day was hot; remember about radiational cooling late at night under an open clear sky! A sleeping bag makes good mosquito armor, and use DEET on whatever parts of you remain exposed.
■ It's peak Perseid meteor night! And maybe the first of two. The actual peak of the shower is supposed to be from about 13h to 16h UT on the 12th, which is 9 a.m. to noon on the 12th Eastern Daylight Time; 6 to 9 a.m. Pacific Daylight time. That's not long after the ideal Perseid meteor-watching hours before dawn. But who knows, the next night could be just as good or nearly so.
In early evening the meteors will be few, but those that do appear will be Earth-grazers skimming far across the top of the atmosphere. As the hours pass and the shower's radiant (in northern Perseus near Cassiopeia) rises higher in the northeast, the meteors will become shorter and more numerous. The first-quarter Moon sets around 11 p.m. daylight-saving time, leaving the sky nicely dark. The shower's radiant continues to gain altitude until dawn puts an end to the show.
By 11 p.m. daylight-saving time Perseus is climbing up the northeastern sky. And the shower's radiant point, next the pointy hat on the Perseus stick figure and below Cassiopeia, is already high enough for the shower to be a little more than half as active as it will be when the radiant is much higher just before dawn. That's for an observer near 40° north latitude. For observers farther south Perseid rates all night will be a bit less, especially during the evening.
Sky & Telescope
Layer up warmly even if the day was hot; remember about radiational cooling late at night under an open clear sky! A sleeping bag makes good mosquito armor, and use DEET on whatever parts of you remain exposed.
"Fireflies out on a warm summer's night, seeing the urgent, flashing, yellow-white phosphorescence below them, go crazy with desire".
--Carl Sagan
--Carl Sagan
