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The 2008 Perseid Meteor Shower - August 12
Published on Jul 22, 2008 - 10:51:17 AM
By: Dr. Tony Phillips, Science@NASA
July 22, 2008 - Mark your calendar: The 2008 Perseid meteor shower peaks on August 12th and it should be a good show.
"The time to look is during the dark hours before dawn on Tuesday, August 12th," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center. "There should be plenty of meteors--perhaps one or two every minute."
The source of the shower is Comet Swift-Tuttle. Although the comet is far away, currently located beyond the orbit of Uranus, a trail of debris from the comet stretches all the way back to Earth. Crossing the trail in August, Earth will be pelted by specks of comet dust hitting the atmosphere at 132,000 mph. At that speed, even a flimsy speck of dust makes a vivid streak of light when it disintegrates--a meteor! Because, Swift-Tuttle's meteors streak out of the constellation Perseus, they are called "Perseids."
(Note: In the narrative that follows, all times are local. For instance, 9:00 pm means 9:00 pm in your time zone, where you live. )
Serious meteor hunters will begin their watch early, on Monday evening, August 11th, around 9 pm when Perseus first rises in the northeast. This is the time to look for Perseid Earthgrazers--meteors that approach from the horizon and skim the atmosphere overhead like a stone skipping across the surface of a pond.
The eastern sky viewed during the hours before sunrise on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2008.
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"Earthgrazers are long, slow and colorful; they are among the most beautiful of meteors," says Cooke. He cautions that an hour of watching may net only a few of these at most, but seeing even one can make the whole night worthwhile.
A warm summer night. Bright meteors skipping overhead. And the peak is yet to come. What could be better?
The answer lies halfway up the southern sky: Jupiter and the gibbous Moon converge on August 11th and 12th for a close encounter in the constellation Sagittarius: sky map. It's a grand sight visible even from light-polluted cities.
For a while the beautiful Moon will interfere with the Perseids, lunar glare wiping out all but the brightest meteors. Yin-yang. The situation reverses itself at 2 am on Tuesday morning, August 12th, when the Moon sets and leaves behind a dark sky for the Perseids. The shower will surge into the darkness, peppering the sky with dozens and perhaps hundreds of meteors until dawn.
For maximum effect, "get away from city lights," Cooke advises. The brightest Perseids can be seen from cities, he allows, but the greater flurry of faint, delicate meteors is visible only from the countryside. (Scouts, this is a good time to go camping.)
The Perseids are coming. Enjoy the show!
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Comments
chris
24 Aug 2008, 03:02
i saw so many.....it was GR8....!also!,on the morning of the 13th at 3:57
a.m. central time...i saw a HUGE METEOR. it was way bigger then any that
night.....Did anyone see that also?
Chrtistelle
15 Aug 2008, 19:45
i wanna se one i love meteors. if you live in Atlanta where can you see it.
plz some one help me here. Cuz i can wait to see one. can you still se it
on 15 Aug 2008 at 1:00 to 4:00 pm too?
tina
12 Aug 2008, 22:50
my husband and I use the trampoline to stargaze. We saw 2 meteors just
about 10 o'clock tonight.The Perseid shower has been a yearly event since I
was a child.Pa.
Amber Hasan
12 Aug 2008, 22:17
Saw a meterorite tonight when I was in the Walgreen's parking lot in
Chester Va. It was all white and very pretty.
Pete M
11 Aug 2008, 23:13
We saw the same Meteor on Sunday August 3rd as well! We were eating a late
dinner out on the deck, and WOW! Same thing, broke into 3 or 4 pieces
before burning out. However, what was very cool, was how it flew not so
darn fast. almost slow moving...and you could see the flames... We live in
Chantilly, VA
Jake
11 Aug 2008, 21:39
Very cool. I will be outside in a chair in the back yard watching this
tonight!
Ceel
05 Aug 2008, 12:55
We saw it too. We were in Haymarket, Va. It was amazing!
Rebecca
04 Aug 2008, 12:29
My husband and I were driving on route 95 N in North Carolina (almost at
the VA border) last night (# August) and saw a huuge meteor in the Northern
sky. It was flying from east to west & what a show! We've never seen one
like it. It had a huge tail and never burned out for the duration of the
flight until we lost sight of it behind the trees. I was hoping to find
out if it was found.
Maria
03 Aug 2008, 23:24
Christian, we saw the SAME meteor tonite in Cherry Hill, NJ ...What a
sight...we'll be watching the skies with you.
Christian
03 Aug 2008, 23:13
Saw a huge meteor tonite over Stafford County, VA -- it was a large ball of
light and split up into 3 smaller chunks before burning out ... at first,
thought it was a plane exploding ... have seen many "shooting stars"
before, but nothing like this ... immediately came back to the house and
did a Net search to find this site and the explanation of the upcoming
meteor shower ... hope to see many more in the next wk or so.
BreeAnn
02 Aug 2008, 01:00
Thank you so much for this information! This is a great meteor shower & is
something that I look forward to every year. I have great memories of the
Perseids from my childhood & it is so exciting that I can share this with
my children!
Marilyn Wolf
27 Jul 2008, 17:43
This explanation and diagram are so clear to me as a beginning skywatcher.
I appreciate Yubanet so much! Thanks, M. Wolf, Carmichael, CA
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