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Perseid Shower

Posted by michael on from the too-cloudy-and-light-polluted dept.

Space.com writes "August is usually regarded as "meteor month" in the Northern Hemisphere, as one of the best shooting star displays of the year reaches its peak near midmonth. The annual Perseid meteor shower is beloved by everyone from meteor enthusiasts to summer campers. The Perseids are predicted to peak overnight on Aug. 12-13, when Earth travels through the middle of a belt of debris laid down in space by comet Swift-Tuttle."

3 of 13 comments (clear)

  1. More than Perseids... Mars too! by Mazzaroth · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Actually, more than just the Perseids shower is going on these days. On the 27 of this month, Mars will be closer to our planet than it's been in nearly 60,000 years (read more here)

    1. Re:More than Perseids... Mars too! by RobertB-DC · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Mars will be closer to our planet than it's been in nearly 60,000 years...

      This is working as a reasonably good line to get my daughter's friends to look up at the sky. However, our fellow Slashdotters have pointed out in previous discussions (too lazy to link, sorry) that it's not really that much closer than the planet gets every 14 years or so.

      It's still very, very cool, though. We just moved out to the sticks, and the full moon and Mars together are a great sight. Plus, 14 years ago (age 23), I wasn't paying much attention to the stars. 14 years before that (age 9), I was the age of one of my kids now... so hopefully, they're getting a good start.

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      Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
  2. A Perseids Story ... by MacEnvy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    When I was in high school, I hiked to the top of a mountain (in my hometown in the Adirondacks) with a couple friends and my girlfriend (now my fiancee) in the middle of August. I was a nerd then as well, so I brought my Celestron 8" telescope. We had some incredible views of Mars and Jupitor on that trip, although the telescope obviously didn't help much for meteorites.

    Fantastic show. Do your best to see it, and you won't be disappointed. Unfortunately (and fortunately), it's not as good as the meteor shower in the fifth season of Stargate SG-1. But then again, we don't have catastrophic consequences either.

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