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The Meteors You've Waited All Year For

Posted by timothy on from the now-with-more-supermoon dept.

StartsWithABang (3485481) writes It's finally here! Sure, we witnessed the birth of a new meteor shower earlier this year, but it was a flop. Many other showers have come-and-gone like they do every year, but none of them have given us a significant number of meteors-per-hour. But even with a near-full Moon out, it's finally time for the Perseids, the most reliable meteor shower year-after-year. Here's where to find them, where they come from and a whole lot more, including some surprising facts about where they don't come from: cometary tails!

31 comments

  1. Not going to matter with a full moon by mozumder · · Score: 1

    Perseids are great, but, as with all meteor showers, only looks good without a moon.

  2. Has /. become an outlet for "startswithabang" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Don't you guys think that this "starswithabang" thing is getting too dominant in /. article listing ?

    1. Re:Has /. become an outlet for "startswithabang" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He has at least one post a day and they all seem to be announced here now, just just the unusual/interesting ones.

      Whether it's a valuable service to the /. community or just a way to boost Medium's eyeball count, I couldn't say.

      I enjoy reading his blog either way :)

    2. Re:Has /. become an outlet for "startswithabang" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't you guys think that this "starswithabang" thing is getting too dominant in /. article listing ?

      His name is StartsWithABang. Show proper respect to your Lord and Master.

    3. Re:Has /. become an outlet for "startswithabang" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All he does is link shitty medium.com website...

    4. Re:Has /. become an outlet for "startswithabang" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I personally still don't know why Medium gets such hate.

      The top section is a little jarring admittedly, not sure why that is even used, it just looks awful, but what else is there to hate?
      Generally the articles are actually pretty damn good, and usually not dumbed down to retarded levels. (even if they explain things from the beginning, the basics, they do that but not at the level of a 10 year old, or average 40 year old)

      So, why do people hate Medium?
      Is it because people get paid for articles? Call the fucking police, people are being paid to do things!
      I really hope Slashdot hasn't re-become one of those shitty kiddy pirate hangouts again. Fuck da man! If it does I think I might need to leave for a couple years and hope it gets better.
      Not even 4chan is that bad now. /g/ is admittedly hilariously delusion since the mass exodus of retards from here and other sites like macrumors, filled with genuinely paranoid retards that seem to think 4chan is anonymous (with regards to online identity, not anonymous posting system), which is even funnier since 4chan has closer ties to police services than Slashdot does.

    5. Re:Has /. become an outlet for "startswithabang" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I personally still don't know why Medium gets such hate.

      The top section is a little jarring admittedly, not sure why that is even used, it just looks awful, but what else is there to hate?

      Just about all the rest of it too. It starts with the layout, entirely tablet-optimised and so rather desktop-unfriendly. Then there's the reinventing of long-established web mechanisms with lots of javascript, badly, causing all sorts of wonkiness for essentially no reason. This got jarring quickly when I tried to read an article in my usual fashion. It kept on phoning home and resetting the view so I had to scroll down again, where normal webpages will just stay right where they are even if you have the temerity to look at another tab or window for a while.

      Then there's the rather transparant production of gobs of text by dint of rather poor "reporting" from a limited set of sources, all better read directly. So there's really no point and no added value for me as a reader. They're not even useful as an aggregator. Very clearly then, the readership is ment to be a very limited audience of tablet-using hipsters with lots pretentions but not much actual depth. What they are good at is as an aggravator, wasting your time with gay abandon if you're not in their exact demographic. Because, you're not the target audience, you're not product, you're not profit-centre; you're chaff, nothing but a nuisance to their eyeball-reaping game.

      So, given the narrowness of their intended demographic and clear dislike for everyone else, their incessant posting here doesn't belong on grounds of poor demographic fit. As such, their persistence is spam and deserving of all the hate it attracts.

      I really hope Slashdot hasn't re-become one of those shitty kiddy pirate hangouts again. Fuck da man! If it does I think I might need to leave for a couple years and hope it gets better.

      Well, if you look at the unrelenting pushing of the widely panned "beta", apparently /. is supposed to be a tablet-toting hipster magnet now, and perhaps dice even did a promotional tie-in deal with mediumdotcom on grounds of "pro-actively shaping the future demographic fit" or somesuch, who knows? Because to those suits too, the audience is but a means to an end.

  3. Ah, so that's why! by EvilSS · · Score: 4, Funny

    I wondered why it was suddenly completely overcast where I live! Seriously, it's like mother nature hates me seeing meteor showers. Every time....

    --
    I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
    1. Re:Ah, so that's why! by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      I wondered why it was suddenly completely overcast where I live!

      They will not peak until Aug 12-13th, so the weather may clear by then. The meteor shower should continue until about Aug 24th.

    2. Re:Ah, so that's why! by tquasar · · Score: 1

      Night and morning low clouds and fog.... That's the coastal forecast here for much of the time. I have a small 'scope and giant binoc's so sometimes I'll drive 40 miles to a large parking area along a mountain road to view the sky.

    3. Re:Ah, so that's why! by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      Around where I live, this will be the first summer in 10-15 years where it hasn't been overcast, raining, or foggy. Gotta love the unpredictable weather of the great lakes. It's pretty much the same thing with seeing aurora's, people down as far south as Atlanta will see it, but everyone in the great lakes area you can bet will have overcast skies with a chance of thunderstorms, snow, or it simply being overcast.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    4. Re:Ah, so that's why! by EvilSS · · Score: 1

      So I should expect overcast conditions for most of August then is what you are telling me?

      --
      I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
  4. Um, they're going to be awful this year by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There's a full moon. There's a full moon that's particularly close to Earth (a "super moon"). Everyone is talking about they're just going to disappoint this year, and to instead maybe look to one of the minor showers later in the month if you really want to do some meteor watching. What is the point of this article? (No, I'm not clicking on it, the fluffy stuff from Medium is starting to get on my nerves. Also, what type of Anonymous Coward would I be if I read TFA?)

    1. Re:Um, they're going to be awful this year by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 0

      There's a full moon.

      Set your alarm clock a couple hours early. The best time to see the Perseids is in the pre-dawn hours. The moon is full on Aug 10th, and the Perseids will peak on the night of Aug 12-13th (Tuesday night / Wednesday morning), when the full moon will set several hours before dawn.

    2. Re:Um, they're going to be awful this year by StupendousMan · · Score: 2

      When the Moon is full, it rises at sunset and sets at sunrise. Each day, the Moon rises (and sets) about one hour later. So, 2 or 3 days after the full Moon, the Moon will rise 2 or 3 hours after sunset, and set 2 or 3 hours after sunrise.

      Which means that, after midnight, the Moon will be high in the sky, ruining the view of the Perseids. It will not "set several hours before dawn."

      In short, the response above is wrong.

      --
      Michael Richmond "This is the heart that broke my finger."
      mwrsps@rit.edu http://stupendous.rit.edu
    3. Re:Um, they're going to be awful this year by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Moonset on the 13th is well after dawn.

  5. It's interesting how... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the same people that claim to see UFOs also claim to be able to see meteors. I've been on several trips, mostly camping away from light pollution, and none of us have ever seen one.

    1. Re:It's interesting how... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've seen lots of shooting stars. I've never seen any alien space ships, though.

      If you stare up at the sky for twenty minutes, you can pretty much be guaranteed of seeing one or two. An estimated 300 thousand of objects burn up in the atmosphere every single day, after all. It's rocky out there.

    2. Re:It's interesting how... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      its a tiny streak of light traveling stupid fast if its visible from the ground, typically conditions or time of day make it worthless

    3. Re:It's interesting how... by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      move somewhere with loooong daaaark niiiights.

      finland or whatever.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    4. Re:It's interesting how... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Finland?
      Isn't that where all the Vikings and Linux developers fled from in order to avoid suicidal thoughts?
      No wonder they go berserk from time to time.

    5. Re:It's interesting how... by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      Finland?
      Isn't that where all the Vikings and Linux developers fled from in order to avoid suicidal thoughts?
      No wonder they go berserk from time to time.

      Well, yes, that Finland. except for Vikings, they're from the other side of the gulf - But, instead of choosing to conquer Finland they went to raise hell in mothafucking Spain so take that as what you will(then later they came over the gulf).

      You sure can see the stars in winter if you're in the Finnish countryside though! so shooting stars are no ufo's, even if they don't make every wish come true.

      For the record I've been in Thailand for 10 months on escape from the winter wonderland. food sure is spicy but I haven't had to bother with socks in months...

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    6. Re:It's interesting how... by Gavagai80 · · Score: 1

      Perhaps you have poor vision? I saw one tonight accidentally while taking the garbage out.

      --
      This space intentionally left blank
    7. Re:It's interesting how... by Deadstick · · Score: 2

      You may be expecting too much. Most meteors go by too fast to see motion, because they're close: you just see a faint white line that appears and persists for less than a second. You see these mostly overhead.

      If a meteor does show motion, that means it's far away (hence low rate of movement through your FOV), and bright enough to be seen through many miles of atmosphere (hence considerably bigger than average). You see these near the horizon.

      If one moves slowly enough that you can say "Hey, look at that" and other people can turn and catch sight of it, it's a BIG mutha.

    8. Re:It's interesting how... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All the best musicians are from Finland, and I have the utmost respect for how badly you fucked up the Soviets when they invaded during the Winter War.

      Speaking as an American, Finland rules.

  6. It's been raining all night by sjames · · Score: 1

    you insensitive clod.

    It's predicted to be cloudy and rainy for the next 7 days. I guess I know why now.

  7. A better use of nukes by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    Let's nuke a timely comet to get an 1833-style show.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  8. The Meteors *I've* Waited All Year For? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

    The Meteors You've Waited All Year For

    I haven't waited all year for them. I'm really not sure who you're talking to.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  9. Any excuse. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Any excuse at all to post more crappy unreadable medium.com linkspam.

    I notice that the "contributors" involved do a professional job of the spamming, but they do little else.

  10. and for stargazers in the Southern Hemisphere? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No info? Sigh...

  11. Not going to matter with a full moon by dotsandlines · · Score: 1

    Oh, but NASA's PR says it will be just keen to watch Perseids with a SUPERMOON in the sky. ::facepalm::