NASA's website has a long description of how and when to see the Perseids meteor shower tonight.
For sky watchers in North America, the watch begins after nightfall on August 11th and continues until sunrise on the 12th. Veteran observers suggest the following strategy: Unfold a blanket on a flat patch of ground. (Note: The middle of your street is not a good choice.) Lie down and look up. Perseids can appear in any part of the sky, their tails all pointing back to the shower's radiant in the constellation Perseus. Get away from city lights if you can.But it isn't clear how well, if at all, we can see them here in Anchorage. But the sky is clear. So after midnight would probably be a good time to look.
Update: 12:30am - We've seen about five or six meteors - a few that were really bright, most pretty faint. Looking pretty much straight up.
12:45 - J and M are lying out on the deck and seeing more. I just saw another big one out there too. And they saw a bat.
I have stayed up late but alas, nothing in Wasilla so far as my eyes can see.
ReplyDeleteOut at Kincaid we saw several of them. The lights were too bright still when looking at the moon. There was NO one direction they were coming from. It was really hit or miss. I was a little disappointed that everyone else saw them and I didn't manage except to see two or three. We are home now.
ReplyDeleteI saw two very bright, very brief ones on the way back to Wasilla from the ANC airport. Judy missed them both. Hey - I'm driving! Now I'm going to take the powered dock out on the lake with my dog and try to see a couple more.
ReplyDeleteI saw so many! It was amazing! Definitely worth the cold and sleep deprivation! There were a couple that were absolutely astounding too! C:
ReplyDeleteA German-AMerican catastrophe movie started just like that. :D
ReplyDeleteSon and I stayed up 'til 4:30. Saw 5 meterors and 1 possible UFO at 3:30. Nice moon but can't say we will do that again.
ReplyDeleteHey Steve!
ReplyDeleteDo you have namedays in Anglo-Saxon culture? It is santos in Spanish and névnap in Hungarian. It is a day when people with the same given name has a day similar to birthdays but a bit less important. For example István (Steve) day is 20th August because it is the national day of Hungarian state establishment. Hungary is 1009 years old (actually it was founded on 31st December 1000, I guess it is the official but there are still arguments whether it was on 26th December or 1st of January) and we celebrate on 20th August because our State Establisher kind István (Stephen/Steven) I was canonised on 20th August in 1083. Yeah, I think it was in 1083.
Ropi, generally we don't have name days, but I believe Catholics pay attention to the days of different saints.
ReplyDeleteSo is the meteor shower visible tonight too August 12?
ReplyDeleteI wish I could see it.
ReplyDeleteits 12th Aug 2009 11:59pm, so far I have seen two of them, quiete clear.. waiting for an hour more (as have to work tomorrow, I wish it was firday) . The direction I am looking is towards lake ontario side (I am bad with north south)... Hope to see more and update all my friends here... All the best everyones... Enjoy the nature's show...
ReplyDeletecloud cover here in BKK made it impossible for me to see :'(
ReplyDeleteok guys from 11:30pm till 1:30am last night (i was sleepy after that) the count was 28 WOW!!! out of which 4 were ashtonishing and 1 immortal... Hope all my friends out here had a same experience... cheers.. see you at some other point in life... Bye
ReplyDeleteHere are some pics. Alas, I didn't take any of them:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.spaceweather.com/meteors/gallery_12aug09_page5.htm