Monday, August 10, 2009

Perseids 2009 (Meteor shower) coming!

According to the International Meteor Organization's website (www.imo.net) we are due for a meteor shower in the next few days!

Small chunk from the website:
"Although the major northern hemisphere Perseids are badly affected by the last quarter Moon near their best this year, there is the possibility they may produce somewhat increased rates. The usual maximum is due around August 12, 17h30m-20h00m UT, but Esko Lyytinen suggests we may encounter the 1610 Perseid trail earlier on August 12, around 9h00m UT (λo = 139°661). This could produce activity additional to the normal Perseid ZHRs then of a few tens, maybe up to a hundred. Mikhail Maslov confirmed this but for 8h00m UT and with only 10-15 meteors per hour."

They also have a nifty graph. I recommend checking it out.

UT means universal time. It is basically the same as Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), so most likely it is ahead of your time. It should be fairly easy to find the difference between where you are and GMT. For example, Eastern time is -5 GMT, so I go back five hours from the UT times given on the site. The "usual maximum" quoted would be from 12:30 to 3:00 PM Eastern time. The other suggested times would be 4 am and 3 am, the earlier ones, before you wake up for your day on August 12.

Even if you aren't able to catch the peak, I still recommend a peek outside. You should still be able to see some meteors - they just won't come as close together.

May your skies be clear and the moon not too bright!

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