NASA Perseids Meteor Shower camera

This caught my eye tonight. I've never seen the Perseids meteor shower in person but I'm hoping to catch it on the camera that NASA set up at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. I've been checking it intermittently and I haven't seen anything yet. I think the shower peaks sometime during the coming week.

PhotonWrangler said:

I've never seen the Perseids meteor shower in person

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Just gotta sit outside for a while and watch the skies; bring your radio/media player, your favorite beverage, make an evening of it..

I didn't catch any meteors on the NASA camera last night. Did you see any?

I think you'd have to wait for Perseus to come up over the horizon, to see meteors emanating from its direction, maybe after 3 am or so?

PhotonWrangler said:

I didn't catch any meteors on the NASA camera last night. Did you see any?

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I'm in a treed area, no clear view here.

TEEJ said:

I think you'd have to wait for Perseus to come up over the horizon, to see meteors emanating from its direction, maybe after 3 am or so?

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No, the constellation Perseus is just the general direction from which the meteors will be flying away from, you'll see them all over the sky, no particular region or cardinal direction.

StarHalo said:

I'm in a treed area, no clear view here.



No, the constellation Perseus is just the general direction from which the meteors will be flying away from, you'll see them all over the sky, no particular region or cardinal direction.

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Right, but, until that comes over the horizon, you won't see the meteors coming from all over the sky....so IIRC, you have to wait until Perseus comes over the horizon to be in the middle of that cloud of meteors...so that you can see the meteorites.



Otherwise, you could just see them as soon as the sky was dark enough, which is not really the case except by coincidence, etc.

I think Sunday/Monday is it for this pass through of the comet's tail.....so, if you want to see it, depending on your time zone, etc...this is the time.

TEEJ said:

Right, but, until that comes over the horizon, you won't see the meteors coming from all over the sky....

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No, the shower peaks as the Earth passes through the comet path, which is vague because comet debris trails are massive - it could be anytime during a ~36 hour period; you have to start looking as soon as it gets dark, and in all directions, preferably straight up so you get the widest field of view. You will miss a significant number of meteors just because your field of view isn't wide enough.

I saw three of them on the NASA camera tonight! They looked like little white bugs crawling across the screen. Very cool.

Just checked the sky and the clouds have moved in. Might have to set the alarm for a 4:00 am viewing.

Geoff

Got some reports of between 70-100 meteors per hour right now, that's a rollicking good shower..

I tried to check out the shower in person Sunday after midnight. The Mrs and I packed up a blanket and a little snack and headed down to the park. I notified my buddy at the local PD that if he got a call on suspicious individuals with flashlights in the park, it would probably be me..... We hung in the park for about an hour but it was just too darned cloudy to see anything. I did get some flashlight time in though!
Last night I sat on the front lawn around 00:45 and within the first 10 minutes I saw 3 of them. 2 of them zipped by pretty quickly but the 3rd on lasted a good 2 seconds. doesn't sound like a long time but when watching a meteor it is!

I was out with my camera between 3-4AM on Monday and Tuesday mornings. Here's just a few I caught...

Great shots Greta! Thanks for sharing them. :thumbsup:

This year sucked! Only saw one the past four nights. And it was a fast, brief one that didn't last too long. Other meteor showers have been much better.

The sky only recently cleared up here. Oh, if only I had a light switch for the streetlight outside my place! I usually just go out meteor watching whenever I get the urge. As long as you go on a clear night, esp. with new moon. For reference, it's dark enough to *almost* make out the milky way with naked eyes here at my darkest spot near me. At my house, I can see a planet and the moon. Stupid street light...
http://cleardarksky.com/csk/prov/index_map.html?Mn=Astronomy < is a nice resource too.

Finally saw a very bright cobalt (blue) meteorite on Tuesday. It appeared at 10:02PM PCT during the blue moon. Anybody else see it? It was an amazing sight. Blue moon, hidden by a few clouds, this shooting star shoots across the top of it, then disappears to the North-Eastern sky, the entire time doing so, would appear and disappear behind many small clouds dotted along the sky. Just amazing!

Some friends and I used to hike up Mt. Rainier to Pinnacle Saddle for the Perseids Shower. 6,000 feet elevation, not a street light to be seen. Good times! :wow: there goes another one! It was overcast this year, didn't even bother trying to L@@K.

~ Chance

Chauncey Gardiner said:

Some friends and I used to hike up Mt. Rainier to Pinnacle Saddle for the Perseids Shower. 6,000 feet elevation, not a street light to be seen. Good times! :wow: there goes another one! It was overcast this year, didn't even bother trying to L@@K.

~ Chance

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I live in small plane area at the base of Mt. Baldy. Over 10,000 feet. You can see every thing very well from up there. Even the Space Shuttle when it was up there.