Perseids tonight

[Jodie]

As the Earth rumbles its way through space through July and August it apparently
passes through some meteoroid cloud. Admittedly I don't know the technicals but
from what I can gather our atmosphere and their debris put on quite a 'shooting star'
kind of show that reaches its maxium overnight tonight. Should be visible nowish
but is likely to peak tomorrow morning. I never see these sorts of things, living in
London but will pop out after "Outbreak" and see if I can see anything meteorish.

"This year the Perseids are visible from 17 July–24 August. In Europe, the display
reaches its maximum before sunrise on 13 August, with 80–100 meteors occurring
per hour. The new Moon on 12 August will also make for ideal observing conditions,
weather permitting."

More from the National Maritime Museum, who know about these things:
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.15573
and BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6940962.stm
as the name suggests - the Perseus area of the sky is the spot to focus on.

Fortunately I can recognise the W of Cassiopeia - it's kind of 'to the left'

Apparently they're going to kick in in the next ten mins or so, which is very
punctual of them hehe. I've never seen a shooting star or anything else shooty
in the sky... but I'm not getting my hopes up.

 

[Greg]

Look to the North Eastern Sky if its clear that is, it is supposed to reach it's peak at around 0300hrs/13th for those revellers amongst you who will still be up then.:borgsmile

 

[JonnyP]

Ooh yes....Saw a few shooting stars while out mothing last night, must stick my head out before bed tonight to look for it. Never seen a metior shower before...

 

[gorilla]

jodie - thanks so much for the heads up - i'm 35 and i've never seen a shooting star before. i read your post and went out in my back yard at about 1 this morning, set up the sun lounger and lay back and watched the best thing i've seen in years! in just under an hour and a half i must have seen 100 shooting stars, and at least a dozen that left visible trails right across the sky
i was lucky to have a really clear sky, and i only came in because the clouds blew over. i'm buzzing like a kid who's just seen their first snowfall!
brilliant!!

 

[Ogri the trog]

I saw a few before turning in last night,
The sky was really clear - probably too clear if you know what I mean, the stars were so bright it was difficult to spot the major constellations! Saw at least one satellite amongst it all as well. It got pretty chilly up here in the mountains and I wasn't dressed for the occasion, so I bailed at 23:30.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[Jodie]

Bah humbug - I saw none.

Admittedly I was standing outside my house which is on a main road with full street
lighting and many cars whizzing past with headlamps on... but I could see Cassiopeia
really clearly and reasoned that if I could see that I should be able to spot moving points
of light, but no.

Probably the car drivers throught I was a bit odd, standing by the belisha beacons at
the crossing staring up at the skies. I'd have to agree with them...

Still, glad others got to see them (grrr).

 

[scanker]

We saw three or four between about 10:15 and 10:45. Had quick looks about 2am and 3am but the cloud had come over then and couldn't see anything.

 

[JayKay]

Hi All,

I too did some observing. For the first time I went out with my son, who is seven years old. We started Saturday evening at 22:30 CET and ended Sunday morning at 00:30 CET. In total we saw 10 meteors.

We also saw the Milkey Way and The Andromeda nebulae. Al in al it was a very nice evening which brought back the memories of 2002.

In 2002 the Leonid meteor shower peaked and together with a friend we drove to the south of France (I live in the Netherlands). In total we saw 755 meteors with a top of 500 in an hour (sometimes 18 per minute). Very nice.....

For all Dutch reading people here's a link of that evening.

Cheers,

JayKay

 

[Twoflower]

Friday night was a busy night in the skies, saw about 5 or 6 shooting stars and one satelite (not to mention all the damn planes, where I was camped is under the flight paths for Gatwick, heathrow and Luton/Stanstead).

Saturday night was busier still .. about 15 in a few hours.

Jodie, the ones I saw were very faint so it's not surprising you didn't see any. Maybe a wander up to the center of Blackheath common might be in order for you to see at least one.

 

[cccc]

As the Earth rumbles its way through space through July and August it apparently
passes through some meteoroid cloud. Admittedly I don't know the technicals but
from what I can gather our atmosphere and their debris put on quite a 'shooting star'
kind of show that reaches its maxium overnight tonight. Should be visible nowish
but is likely to peak tomorrow morning. I never see these sorts of things, living in
London but will pop out after "Outbreak" and see if I can see anything meteorish.

QUOTE]


So will there be still be some action tonight ?

Cheers

c

 

[TheGreenMan]

According to Jodrell Bank the display will continue until the 15th. And according to the British Astronomical Association it continues until the 20th.

Saw a few last night (around midnight), and pretty spectacular too. Though I have to say I’ve had some good fortune, at random moments, by simply stepping out onto the balcony and just looking up, or simply by lying in bed and looking out of the window.

And any clear night is good for spotting man-made satellites, even with the city ‘light pollution’. It’s a surprisingly busy sky, if you’re never spent an hour or so just looking up. After half an hour, one’s ‘night vision’ starts to become quite sensitive, as I’m sure many of you know.

Not to mention the pleasures of watching the International Space Station and/or the Space Transportation System (Space Shuttle) glide silently across the sky.

Best regards,
Paul.

 

[rich59]

Jodie, the ones I saw were very faint so it's not surprising you didn't see any. Maybe a wander up to the center of Blackheath common might be in order for you to see at least one.

I live in SE London and I looked for about 20 minutes about 11 pm. I think I saw 2 very feint ones. So may be there were a lot more I missed. The London lights really don't help much. Maybe if they turned them up a bit I would see more???

 

[Jodie]

I was hoping that my friend might want to stand on Blackheath common with me but
the pub was calling him and I don't tend to lurk in dark places by myself

According to the National Maritime Museum it goes on until the 24th so you should
see some tonight, if you are able to see any at all that is.

Plan B is to head off to the Very Large Array near Socorro and see both the sky and
the dishes...

It's on my 'list of places where I might get a good view of the sky' including zipping
across the Atlantic with Cunard (I'm sure there are cheaper alternatives but one can
dream) and lurking in the desert somewhere.

I think we get to see the ISS and those Iridium flares on occasion.

 

[tommy the cat]

Yes too cloudy here doh....this is one of the best meteor showers all year with upto 80 zhr ( that is 80 per hour) It will be less but could be that many. Gutted had great clear skies in Cornwall now back home cloud and light pollution.
Hope you get some good clear skys
D

 

[Singeblister]

I will have a look tonight see what i can see , thanks for the heads up didnt know about this

 

[Gwhtbushcraft]

I have just laid down my bivi bag on the lawn and gazed at the skies for an hour or so. I definitely saw one and there were a few times where I turned my head to movement in the skies. It was a shame about the clouds but I enjoyed being out all the same.

 

[AndyW]

Remembered it at about 23:30 last night and shot into the garden in a vain hope of seeing something. Saw two or three after a few minutes so woke up my 6 yr old and took him up to the local country park to watch from a slightly darker area.

Saw a few more in the half hour we were there which was good as it's the first he's seen.

Andy

 

[TheGreenMan]

... I think we get to see the ISS and those Iridium flares on occasion.

Indeed you are right, here is where the Shuttle and ISS were a few minutes ago (they are ‘docked’ so they show up as just the Shuttle – over Africa):

During the next few days there will be three visible passes over the London area (there are more, but these three will be the easiest to observe – clear skies permitting):

All times are shown in Local Time (BST) and the time in the first column is the time the satellites will appear over the local horizon. Azimuth is the compass bearing that you should face. Max Altitude is the highest it will be in the sky as it passes overhead. The duration is how long the satellites take to travel from horizon to horizon. And the visible time is how long the satellites are made visible to the observer by indirect sunlight.

The first pass listed will fly almost directly overhead of the observer, and could be seen from any city street. The second two will more probably be better seen from an open space of some sort, as they will be lower in the sky.

Just look for a bright star gliding sedately across the night sky (if there are no clouds, which there probably will be).

Best regards,
Paul.

EDIT: The clocks on the above image are incorrectly set <blush>

 

[Jodie]

Brilliant - I need to get a compass

Mind you, if I remember these things are very bright but only last for a short while. The
ISS on the other hand just hangs there for ages so it's probably a better bet for spotting.

Without a compass I've not got the faintest idea what direction to look in so I'd be
wheeling about on the pavement gawping skywards and worrying the locals, probably.

Jo

 

[TheGreenMan]

Generally speaking the ISS and STS appear over the horizon (in London) from the west. The three passes listed are the merest tad north of due west. The easiest way to spot the ISS and STS is to look west and angle your head back at 45 degrees between the horizon and the zenith (zenith is directly above your head) and wait for it to fly into your field of vision. This is much easier that scanning around the sky with your eyes, as our vision it very sensitive to movement and anything moving at speed in the star field will immediately get your attention, and they are bright.

By the way, the ISS doesn’t 'hang' anywhere D ), both it and the STS are moving at around 18 000 miles per hour, but it still looks graceful, and from the time they break the horizon to the time they disappear into the Earth’s shadow is around six to seven minutes (for these particular passes), which is quite a long time.

The first pass at 75 degrees is almost directly above your head (when you are facing due west), and if you imaging a line from the western horizon, over your head, and to the eastern horizon behind you, then visualise a protractor in front of you and imagine where the 45 degree line on the left hand side is, then that is the sort of path that the second two passes will follow.

But with the weather as it is right now, this is all pretty academic.

I'll post another pic at around 9.00pm to show where the ISS and STS are (they'll be approaching London at that time).

Best regards,