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Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight With Up To 200 Meteors Per Hour (latimes.com) 62

Posted by BeauHD from the city-lights-and-desert-skies dept.
The Perseid meteor shower happens ever year in August, but this year it will be especially spectacular with twice as many shooting stars streaking across the night sky. Los Angeles Times reports: "In past years, stargazers would have seen up to one meteor each minute, on average, in a very dark sky. But this year, there's even more reason to stay up late or crawl out of bed in the middle of the night. 'We're expecting 160 to 200 meteors per hour,' said Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. This year's 'outburst' of shooting stars was set into motion more than a year ago, when Jupiter passed closer than usual to the stream of dusty debris left in the wake of the comet Swift-Tuttle. Jupiter's gravity field tugged a large clump of the tiny particles closer to Earth's eventual path. These intense displays happen once a decade or so, Cooke said. The next one won't be until 2027 or 2028." The best viewing experience will be away from the city. Since it takes roughly 30-45 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the darkness, it's recommended you don't pull out your smartphone or excessively shine your flashlight around. The Los Angeles Times has a neat infographic of the Perseid meteor shower.
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Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight With Up To 200 Meteors Per Hour More

Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight With Up To 200 Meteors Per Hour

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  • Go math! (Score:4, Funny)

    by maglor_83 ( 856254 ) on Thursday August 11, 2016 @10:38PM (#52688685)

    Sounds like they're expecting 3 times as many, not 2.

  • For the past decade - the area I live in in Illinois is clouded over during the show. Like tonight.

    Frustrating to say the least..

    • You think you've got problems with mere clouds. For all but a handful of years in my life (and every year for the last two decades) I've had a planet in the way of viewing Perseids.

      • For all but a handful of years in my life (and every year for the last two decades) I've had a planet in the way of viewing Perseids.

        On the bright side, if I optimistically head out tonight and find that the planet has unexpectedly cleared away, I'm sure the view will be really spectacular.

    • The viewing is good here in Texas. I'm in Houston, and not far from downtown, but because of the strange variations in population density here, and the complete lack of zoning laws, you can still find some relatively dark skies where I am.

      I'd forgotten all about Perseid until I saw the second one and remembered this is August.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dj245 ( 732906 )

        The viewing is good here in Texas. I'm in Houston, and not far from downtown, but because of the strange variations in population density here, and the complete lack of zoning laws, you can still find some relatively dark skies where I am.

        I'd forgotten all about Perseid until I saw the second one and remembered this is August.

        And where might those be? As a fellow Houstonian, I was under the impression that you had to go way out into the countryside to escape light pollution.

        • And where might those be? As a fellow Houstonian, I was under the impression that you had to go way out into the countryside to escape light pollution.

          Tell you what, it's not going to be real dark skies, but it's better than downtown Chicago (where I'm from). I was in Hermann Park last night, and the viewing wasn't as bad as most cities I've been in.

          Say, as a fellow Houstonian, can you give me any tips for decent camping nearby? I've only lived in Houston for 11 days (I got here on the first). It's my fi

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by dj245 ( 732906 )

            And where might those be? As a fellow Houstonian, I was under the impression that you had to go way out into the countryside to escape light pollution.

            Tell you what, it's not going to be real dark skies, but it's better than downtown Chicago (where I'm from). I was in Hermann Park last night, and the viewing wasn't as bad as most cities I've been in.

            Say, as a fellow Houstonian, can you give me any tips for decent camping nearby? I've only lived in Houston for 11 days (I got here on the first). It's my first time down here.

            I have yet to go camping in state, but I have heard good things about Brazos Bend State Park. The Galveston area could be an option, although Galveston is a bit trashy in general. If you do camp near/on the gulf, take care about how far back from the water you are. The tidal range can be several hundred feet, especially in Galveston where the slope of the beach is so gradual.

    • As I live in a fairly populated metro area with plenty of light, the only time I've ever seen one was on my honeymoon last year on our cruise.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dywolf ( 2673597 )

      every time I've tried to see them and it hasn't been cloudy, there's simply too much light pollution.
      sadly, since I need to work, I can't just drive 60 minutes (each way) outside the last brightly lit suburb in the middle of the night to see them.

  • Where and when can I watch this . . . like in central Europe?

  • That's just 0.2 kilometeors per hour.

  • A meteor shower is not a meteor storm. Meteor showers get way more media attention than they deserve.

    Astronomically speaking there are far more exciting things to do with your time that are more convenient. Borrow a decent telescope for a month.

    I for one have no desire to get out of bed at the time I'm most sleepy, travel from my big city to somewhere where the night sky is half way decent, to see three meteors a minute, each of which is only in the sky for a few seconds, if I am lucky. That's an average of

    • Re:Unless you are in the country, stay in bed (Score:4, Interesting)

      by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Friday August 12, 2016 @06:26AM (#52689795)

      Astronomically speaking there are far more exciting things to do with your time that are more convenient.

      There are few things as existing or magical than sitting down and drinking beer with mates and looking up at the night sky on day where something is actually happening. Playing spot the satellite is nice enough but especially during the Perseid showers you do occasionally get a whopper of a meteor that leaves a smoking streak across the night sky.

      If you feel like playing video games instead then go your hardest, but the sky is incredibly boring without an incredibly dark sky, some really good gear, and some serious time and dedication to the art. A meteor shower is one of the few events where something actually happens, and it doesn't get enough attention.

  • We wanted to go out yesterday, but the sky was a complete overcast. Looks like the same today. It's such a shame, really. I've seen them before and it was magnificent.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Longjmp ( 632577 )
      You didn't miss anything, since, according to some comments above, they don't exist anyway.
      Ever been to Africa? No? That's because it doesn't exist either ;)

      More seriously, we were lucky, only a cloud or two. And it was indeed impressive, a lot more of those little critters than usual :)

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Tom ( 822 )

        Hate you already. :-)

        Africa exists, I've been there. But China doesn't exist, we all know that. ;-)

  • I was up at 2 AM last night (2016-08-12-02-00 EDT) in upstate NY. It was dark and clear, the moon was down. The Milky Way was clearly visible. We saw meteors every 20 seconds or so. Some were truly impressive.

  • This was a superior shower, one of the best I have seen. I watched from the outskirts of Wrightwood, CA; elevation 1800 m just 20 km north of the Los Angeles basin but with an SQM 19.05 sky, a measure of sky darkness. due to mountain shielding of the light dome (the Milky Way is visible). This published list of darkness comparisons: [skyandtelescope.com] rates this as "Typical for a suburb with widely spaced single-family homes.".

    Starting at 12:40 a.m. (when I went out and started viewing) I saw 5 spectacular Earth-grazing fir

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