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(meteorobs) Re: Maybe Some Help?
Howdy, John - and thanks for the compliment!
Well, there's good news and bad news. :) The good news is you can see
meteors at any time of the night, anywhere in the sky!
The bad news is that on the best nights for the Perseids this year, the
moon will be rising at about 10 or 11 and not setting till after sunrise!
The more good news is that if your sky is quite dark (as rural Wisconsin
probably is), even despite the moon you may still see as many as 30 or more
meteors per hour on the mornings of August 10, 11, and 12. Quite a show!
More BAD news is you really need to look AFTER midnight to see lots of
meteors: before 12am local time, you will find yourself on the "trailing
edge" of earth as it orbits the sun: so any meteors you see will be ones
that have "caught up" with us in space. AFTER midnight on the other hand -
and especially near dawn - you may see two or three times more meteors than
the evening!
Well, that's pretty much all there is to watching the SHOW: pick any dark,
unobstructed part of the sky, and watch as late (or early :>) as possible.
Now if you're interested, the Perseids are NOT the only meteor shower
active in early August! With a little practice, and some knowledge of the
constellations, you can actually figure out which meteors are *Perseids*
and which are from other showers - or from no shower.
If you're interested in seeing MORE while you watch the skies those nights
- and maybe even learning to record what you see so other folks can compare
with it, check out the North American Meteor Network on the Web:
http://medicine.wustldot edu/~kronkg/namn.html
Or contact Mark Davis, NAMN Coordinator, at:
MeteorObs@Charlestondot net
Mean time, enjoy the show, and clear skies!
Lew Gramer
owner-meteorobs@latrade.com
At 01:36 AM 07/30/1998 EDT, John Compton wrote:
>I hope that this is not too much of a problem - but I am getting nowhere
in my
>search. Many years ago a friend took me to the mountains to see the perseus
>meteor shower - I have been able to find out they are coming up in August
[the
>12th being the best viewing day they say] - but have not been able to find
out
>If I can see them from central Wisconsin, where my wife and I will be on
>vacation at the time. And if they can be seen, where do we look - all I find
>are degrees this and whatever - and I don't have a clue to what this means
- I
>need times - and where to look - I.E. - 2 a.m. southwest - low in the sky
- if
>you can help me - thank you very much - if you can't - sorry to have
>bothered you - by the way - nice web site! John Compton