Planetary Alignment and a Meteor Shower

[alffink]

Hello all, haven't posted anything astronomical for awhile, but can't let this one go by without passing the word along.

This coming Thursday evening, August 12, the planets Venus, Mars & Saturn along with a pretty cresent moon, will be in conjunction (close together) in the west as twilight turns to dark.
Then as the evening turns to night, the annual Perseid meteor shower will be putting on it's show and if early meteor counts, count for anything it should be a good one.

A good NASA article about Thursdays show at:

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/sc ... _perseids/

Now plan to get thee, out under the stars, no telescope necessary

[starleen2]

we'll be out camping that thursday and will be looking forward to the show! Thanks for the info!

[Oasis Maker]

Excellent. Great tip - thanks! I'll be lookin' up as well.

Scott

[emiller]

looks like a trip out of the city. Thanks.

[Zollinger]

Going to a vintage trailer rally. The at the progressive cocktail part will be in full swing then. Gonna hafta remember to keep a watch to the west.

[alffink]

Sounds like fun

Just remember only 3 planets and 1 moon

The meteors, can come in two's

[mechmagcn]

I live out in the country and have a 35 acre hay meadow on a hill to watch from. I plan to be out there Thur. and Fri. nights. Sounds like a good reason to drag the teardrop out of the weeds and camp out

[caseydog]

It's been several years since I watched the Perseid shower. I may need to drive to the country Thursday night. Thanks for the tip.

CD

[tonyj]

I'll have to miss the peak (as usual) on Thursday night, but I'll be in the country Fri nite for sure.

And it is great justification for a trip to Wallyworld or Academy to pick out a new comfortable lounging chair . . .

[Cliffmeister2000]

I remember camping out in our sleeping bags in the front yard in August, when I was 15, and watching the show. It was awesome! That was the same year Neil Armstrong took that small step for a man...

[TheresaD]

Al will the showers be visible in the Northeast as well? That sounds like kind of a dumb question but sometimes aren't these events more visible in certain areas? I'm curious because I'd like to watch for them. I was camping on Cape Cod this past weekend and we happened to catch a few "shooting stars" and saw one really bright (what I believe was) meteor. It had a long tail to it and was visible for quite a few seconds. Maybe that was a preview of coming attractions. Hopefully I'll get to see some more. Might take a drive out to a friend's house where there are alot fewer street lights etc.

[alffink]

TheresaD

NorthEast - SouthWest, location for the overall evening should not make a difference, for a particular meteor, sure but as long as your sky is clear and away from the city lights.....enjoy the show

tonj

Friday's shower won't be as intence, but should still have some meteors to see, the Perseids have been in the sky now for about ten days, Thursday night Friday morning is the peak, but the numbers will fall off faster than the build up

[alffink]

Hi All

Just a couple quick tips for meteor watching....

In general the Best time to view a meteor shower is between midnight and say an hour before sunrise

the easiest way I can explain this is;

Think about the old saying, about rather wanting to be the windshield rather than the bug....well think of the earth as the windshield and meteors as the bugs, and as the sun sets we are kicking back in our lounge chairs on the roof of the car and we are watching the bugs fly over the roof of the car.
Now as the evening progresses we are sliping from the roof towards the windshield and by midnight we are on the windsheild and them bugs are coming right at us.
We can still see those bugs that are passing over the car, but we now have most of them coming right at us, and if you follow the trails back into space you'll see that they seem to come from the same point in space and that should be the constellation Persius, that's how this particular old comet trail gets it's name.
Now warm the coffee and or hot chocolate, or something cooler depending where you are at.....kick back and enjoy.

Oh, don't fall off the car......

[tonyj]

tonj

Friday's shower won't be as intence, but should still have some meteors to see, the Perseids have been in the sky now for about ten days, Thursday night Friday morning is the peak, but the numbers will fall off faster than the build up

I know, but I'll take what I can get (and I did pick up a new lounge chair, so I'll get something out of it!). Now if the weather will cooperate--cloud cover has moved in with chances of showers.

[TheresaD]

Yeah I'm hoping the clouds will move out of here as well Tony. It sure would be fun to see some of the showers.

On another astronomical topic - Al, a friend sent me an e-mail that said something about Mars being extremely close to earth on Aug 27th making it look like another moon. Is there any truth to this?