(meteorobs) Press and plans for the Perseids (was Re: Perseid outburst prediction this year?)

[Geert Barentsen]

>Geert, this is really a wonderful idea. Do you (or any of our other
>readers) have any "templates" for such press releases that you would
>recommend using?

Unfortunately, I don't have such template around right now... But we have 
some people at the observatory that are very skilled in press relations, I 
will put them at work in july :-)
We have always managed to get things fairly accurate in the press, wich is 
very important... Unexperienced people should definitly not expect to see 
more than 10 to 20 meteors/hour during the Perseid maximum, but nobody 
minds waiting for meteors in a good chair on a warm August night. It's 
impossible to bring people in contact with Geminds or Quadrantids in this 
same, relaxed way.

As others have pointed out, a lot of caution is required. Hypes should 
definitly be avoided, and the difference with a Leonid storm shoud be made 
clear. However, even without ZHR 250, the Perseids are a unique chance to 
bring people in touch with comets, asteroids, meteors, meteoroids, 
meteorites,... (Lots of people can't tell the difference!!!) Well-informed 
people will not be disappointed.

Kind regards,
Geert