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NASA Predicts A Good Year For Perseids

Posted by timothy on from the there's-a-limit-on-those-things dept.

xCepheus writes "According to this article on NASA's website, the year 2004 will be a good one for the annual meteor shower known as the Perseids. Quoth the article, 'This is a good year for Perseids, for two reasons, explains Bill Cooke of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. First, the Moon is new in mid-August; moonlight won't spoil the show. Second, in addition to the usual shower on August 12th, there might be an extra surge of meteors on August 11th caused by a filament of dust newly drifting across Earth's orbit.'"

2 of 15 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I've always wanted to see this by barakn · · Score: 4, Informative
    Many of these will be disappointing, but here's a list of late July and August showers showing name, activity period, maximum date, from this source:

    Pisces Austrinids Jul 15-Aug 10 Jul 27

    Southern delta-Aquarids Jul 12-Aug 19 Jul 27

    alpha-Capricornids Jul 03-Aug 15 Jul 29

    Southern iota-Aquarids Jul 25-Aug 15 Aug 04

    Northern delta-Aquarids Jul 15-Aug 25 Aug 08

    Perseids Jul 17-Aug 24 Aug 12

    kappa-Cygnids Aug 03-Aug 25 Aug 17

    Northern iota-Aquarids Aug 11-Aug 31 Aug 19

    alpha-Aurigids Aug 25-Sep 08 Aug 31

    This page has tips for viewing the better showers.

    --
    "I'm so moist I'm sticking to the leather." -Kermit the Frog on The Late Late Show
  2. Re:POP go the meteors? by paz5 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Although not a pop, you could hear a hissing sound. There was a /. artical about it quite a while back (that i could not find) but here are a few that talk about hearing a hiss as the meteor is going through the atmosphere. There is also a method using reflected radio signals to hear a meteor, though that requires equipment and not just your ears.