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08-11-2002, 03:21 PM
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#1 |
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meteor showers
Tonight, Aug. 11 and tomorrow in N. Hemisphere
<a href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=585&e=2&cid=585&u=/nm/20020811/sc_nm/space_perseids_dc_1" target="_blank">yahoo news</a> |
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08-11-2002, 03:42 PM
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#2 |
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I've been observing for the last couple of evenings at the TAS dark site in Lloyd Florida. Mag 5.5 - 7.0 skies. Approx 12 per hour. Not many but the few that are visible are bright and fast.
Starboy |
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08-13-2002, 11:48 PM
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#3 |
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Watched them all Monday morning from Mt. Wilson, CA. Bum performance due to light pollution and high smog. Could not see any stars 60 degrees from zenith and beyond!
 [ August 14, 2002: Message edited by: fando ]</p> |
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08-14-2002, 01:23 AM
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#4 |
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Stayed up til 2am, but it was cloudy in Bristol!
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08-14-2002, 03:31 AM
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#5 | |
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Quote:
 Cheers, Oolon |
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08-14-2002, 04:33 AM
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#6 |
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If you are interested in watching a meteor shower, the thing to do is not to stay up late, but to get up early.
This is because the earth is moving into the swarm. Watching for meteors in the evening is like watching for bugs to hit the back window of a moving car. You will only see those bugs that are fast enough to catch up with the car. Watching for meteors in the morning is like watching for bugs to hit the front windshield of a moving car. The latter is much more productive. |
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08-14-2002, 04:44 AM
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#7 | |
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Quote:
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08-14-2002, 06:21 AM
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Quote:
The problem is, they do not come at us from behind. The Perseid meteors are blown off of the coment Swift-Tuttle which, every 120 years, crosses the Earth's orbit, coming at it from above and ahead of us. A more accurate analogy, then, would be one of driving into a rainstorm with the raindrops being propelled toward you at an angle by a headwind. You're still not going to see very many raindrops hitting the back window. Most meteors are like this; the cross Earth's orbit at an angle at high speeds. There are some, but not many, with the ability to catch up to the Earth from behind. So, the best time for watching meteors is between 2:00 am and dawn. |
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08-14-2002, 08:44 AM
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#9 |
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I think that the car analogy has to be modified to include the car rotating (as on ice) about a vertical axis. And think of the rain storm as being of a very very short duration (more like a burst of water from a hose aimed down the road). Then the best time for viewing can be understood to be out of the front window (PM) OR the back window (AM) depending on what portion of the car is rotating into the stream of water droplets at the optimum moment. For the current meteor shower the best time is viewing in the morning in the eastern US. However, the best time for viewing depends on the exact interval that the earth encounters the stream of particles, this will vary across the globe.
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