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(meteorobs) Re: meteorite showers


Hi, KTDJ1! I took the liberty of forwarding your question to the 'meteorobs' 
email mailing list: about 185 amateur and professional meteor astronomers, who 
can answer your question in 20 different ways.


As for MY answer, here's a brief summary of what you need to know, to share the 
wonder of shooting stars with your eight-year-old!

1) Meteors (shooting stars) can be seen all year round! Just look up at the sky 
at night - preferrably a DARK sky, as far as you can get from streetlights or 
ANY kind of outdoor lighting! And preferrably with a clear horizon all around.

2) Meteors can be seen at any time of night, but are MUCH more frequent after 
midnight: from midnight to noon, the observer is on the side of earth which is 
"headed into the wind", so our planet is sweeping up the meteors as it goes!

3) For short stretches of nights during the year, there are MANY more meteors 
than normal. These times of year are when "meteor showers" occur. One of the 
two or three BEST of these meteor showers is coming up very soon! If you can 
get your eight-year-old up before dawn (say around 3am) on the mornings of 
August 10, 11, or 12, and lie in a darkened field for a half-hour or so looking 
around the night-sky, you should see TENS of shooting stars - many of them 
bright and fast - from the meteor shower called the "Perseids".

Even if you can only watch during the evening on these nights (AFTER 9:30), you 
can still see bright, fast meteors coming out of the North.

4) Watching meteors can be scientifically useful as well as a source of wonder! 
If you decide that YOU are interested in shooting stars as much as your child 
is, you may want to consider looking up more information on the Web (see 
below), or joining an email mailing list like 'meteorobs', for more info!

Clear skies and many meteors to you!
Lew Gramer
owner-meteorobs@latrade.com


LEARNING MORE ABOUT METEORS
===========================
A great starting point for learning more about meteors in
general is Gary Kronk's "Comets and Meteor Showers" Page at:
        http://medinfo.wustldot edu/~kronkg/

Other contacts for people interested in OBSERVING meteors:

The North American Meteor Network:
Contacts:       Mark Davis <MeteorObs@charlestondot net>
                Lew Gramer <lewkaren@tiacdot net>
URL:            http://medicine.wustldot edu/~kronkg/namn.html

International Meteor Organization:
Contacts:       Rainer Arlt <100114.1361@CompuServe.COM>
                Sirko Molau <sirko.molau@dlrdot de>
URL:            http://www.imodot net/index.html

The American Meteor Society:
Contacts:       Jim Bedient <wh6ef@pixi.com>
                Dr. David Meisel, SUNY Geneseo, New York
URL:            http://www.serve.com/meteors
References: