posted August 11, 2006 11:56 PM         

Ali Jarekji / Reuters file

There's bad news and good news about this year's Perseid meteor shower, which is traditionally regarded as the highlight of summer skywatching.

First, the bad news: When the shooting stars reach their peak this weekend, the moon is in just about the worst possible location. It's only a couple of days past its full phase, meaning that the moon's bright disk will be glaring down like a cosmic headlight virtually all night long.

The good news is that the shooting stars reach their peak this weekend — which gives you an opportunity to get far away from city lights, stay up until the wee hours, see what meteors you can, and still recuperate in time for the work week.

Even though it's an off year, the Perseids are still well worth the effort, said Robert Lunsford, operations manager for the American Meteor Society.

"I would shoot for Saturday morning," Lunsford told MSNBC.com. "You can try Sunday morning. The rates would be slightly less, but still it would be a good show if the skies are clear."

The Perseids start up every year in late July and peak on Aug. 12-13, when Earth passes through a stream of dust particles left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle. The dust and debris create ionized trails — and even fireballs — as they blaze through the atmosphere.

The orientation of the debris stream means that the shooting stars appear to emanate from the constellation Perseus (which is how the Perseids got their name). However, the streaks can flash anywhere in the night sky, so it pays to take a wide-angle view.

Lunsford said the best bet is to keep the glaring moon behind you, and look toward the northeast between midnight and dawn — when Earth is turning directly into the debris stream. Staying up until dawn should also give you a chance to see Mercury and Venus in the morning sky.

In a good year, you might expect to see 60 to 100 Perseid meteors per hour at the peak, but the moon's interference could reduce the visible activity by at least half, Lunsford said. "It all depends on how hazy your skies are," he advised. "If the skies are hazy and humid, you'll be lucky to see 20 an hour."

METEOR TIPS

• Stay up late: Meteor showers peak between midnight and dawn. Nap early if you must.
• Get out of town: Go far away from city lights and haze.
• Get comfortable: Bring a lounge chair or blanket.
• Be patient: It takes a few minutes for your eyes to adjust to the dark.
• Look around: Meteors may radiate from one point, but they can flash anywhere in sky.
• Comets & Meteor Showers
If you live in the southern tier of the United States, you should have the best chance of seeing "Earthgrazers" on Friday or Saturday evening, after sunset and before moonrise. "They last much longer because they only skim the thin portion of the atmosphere, and they'll cover long distances," Lunsford said. Earthgrazers are exceedingly rare, but they're said to be colorful, graceful and memorable.

The Perseids may be the year's best-known meteor shower, because it occurs at a time that's tailor-made for lying out on a blanket after midnight (at least in the Northern Hemisphere). But it's not the year's best, Lunsford said.

Traditionally, the Leonids — which peak in mid-November — are counted as the second major meteor shower of the year. But it's been seven years since Earth passed through the heaviest stream left behind by Comet Tempel-Tuttle, the comet that spawned the Leonids. And that means "the best time for the Leonids is behind us, unfortunately," Lunsford said.

"That shower will produce maybe 15 to 25 meteors per hour at best," he said. "That's a far cry from the hundreds or thousands we had around the turn of the century."

No, this year's best meteor shower is expected to be the Geminids, which peak in the Dec. 12-14 time frame. Moon conditions should be relatively favorable, allowing observers with clear, dark skies to see 50 to 60 meteors an hour at the peak, Lunsford said.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14188978/?GT1=8404

posted August 11, 2006 11:58 PM         

Fireball Over Texas 'Turned Night Into Day'

A fireball seen streaking through the sky in Lakeway, Texas, "turned night to day," according to a police officer who witnessed the event.

A police cruiser dashcam videotaped the streak at about 11 p.m. Wednesday.

Hundreds of residents who witnessed the bright light in the sky called police and media, KNBC-TV reported.

"A police officer who captured the video said the light turned night into day," Local 6's Jacqueline London said.

Astronomers said the light was either a meteor fireball or space junk entering the atmosphere, according to the report.

see the video

posted November 18, 2006 06:28 AM         

Stargazers in New England, New York and western Europe could see an "outburst" of hundreds of meteors this weekend during the annual Leonid meteor shower — if the skies are clear enough.

A typical Leonid shower in November brings 10 to 20 meteors an hour under ideal viewing conditions — a dark sky filled with stars and free of light pollution.

But this year, the Earth is passing through a denser trail of debris left by the Comet Tempel-Tuttle, causing a higher concentration of meteors, said Brian Marsden, a senior astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge.

The rush of meteors was expected between 11:45 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. EST Saturday and Sunday. Meteor forecasters predict 100 to 200 meteors an hour during the peak, said Alan MacRobert, the senior editor of Sky & Telescope magazine, based in Cambridge.

Skygazers in New England, eastern New York and eastern Canada have the best chance of catching the action in North America because they'll most directly face the oncoming shower, MacRobert said.

"The place you really want to be is westernmost Europe or England," he said. "They'll be ideally placed."

But other parts of the country may catch sight of the outburst if it arrives a few hours late, he said.

The National Weather Service predicts partly cloudy skies in southern New England and mostly cloudy weather in northern New England and New York for Saturday and Sunday.

posted November 19, 2006 02:43 PM         

i saw a few good ones last night here in florida.....

posted December 13, 2006 03:36 PM         

December 14 - Geminids Meteor Shower