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meteor shower?


lostinspace

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i used to love looking out for them when i was a lot younger. But i think it was the thing to do while underage drinking in the vallies! plenty of time to have a good look at the sky with some lovely clear nights.

now that im older, and living in a "brighter" area i havnt bothered.

Anyone captured pics of meteor showers on slg??

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looking out of my window 2.30ish last night i saw must have been 6 streaks across the sky, tthey were all traveling in the same direction, does that mean they were part of a meteor shower?

jon

Could be - or if you saw them all at the same time, could have been fragments of a single large meteoroid that broke up on hitting the atmosphere: this is not uncommon but a lucky sighting!

When we talk of a meteor 'shower' what we really mean is a higher-than-normal frequency of meteors, over a period of time, say several nights, rather than a lot of meteors appearing all at once. And what is more, the members of a shower usually all have a common 'radiant': that means they appear to travel outwards from a common point in the sky, rather than all going in the same direction.

Anyway, if the weather permits and you feel a bout of insomnia, why not sit outdoors (on a reclining chair if possible) for an hour or two and relax? Your patience may well be rewarded.

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I saw several last night also. I had to stop and think if there was a meteor shower peak due. I must have seen 4 with in 20 minutes all of good size coming over east from Andromeda to west Hercules. Almost woke the wife and kids up but the ground was soaking with dew and we only have one sun lounger ;)

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I saw quite a few in a short space of time whilst poking around with the binos last night. Thought they might be sporadic but upon looking it up I guess it's the Perseid's getting started.

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Saw a couple tonight in the brief space between sunset and the clouds rolling in. One had a really bright yellow colour, with quite a wide tail. Both were heading from the east to the south, at about 15 degrees above the horizon. If they're perseids, maybe this year's maximum will be a good one!

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Saw a couple tonight in the brief space between sunset and the clouds rolling in. One had a really bright yellow colour, with quite a wide tail. Both were heading from the east to the south, at about 15 degrees above the horizon. If they're perseids, maybe this year's maximum will be a good one!

I believe there will be a full moon though. ;) Perhaps it's a blessing that we can see some early ones.

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It's one area of astronomy that requires nothing... except maybe a chair ;)

Sit back and look up - try and shield your eyes from the moon. As we get toward the maximum (usually the evening of the 11th/12th), you should see around 1 meteor a minute.

The moon will lower that number as the fainter meteors are washed out, but some of the Persieds are long and bright - seen a few lovely ones myself over recent nights!

Good luck.

Ant

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I`m sure i read on the forum that the moon drops down around 00.15, should make for better veiwing if so.

(best check first, i`ve been known to be wrong in the past.... or so my partner tells me :smiley:)

jon

Moon sets at about 2am tonight: for the last hour or so it will be pretty low in the sky and won't interfere, so if you don't mind staying up and have a clear night, get out tonight! Tomorrow night moonset will be about an hour later.

Incidentally, here is a useful site for getting Sunrise/sunset/moonrise/moonset for any single date:

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.php

You need to know your latitude and longitude, but if you don't know just type in 51°N, 0°W (London) will be close enough for most of England.

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While looking at M15 last night one flashed through my eyepiece view and gave me such a start! very bright and fast.. then when i was looking at the ring nebula the same thing happened again... looks to me as though we are in for a good shower this year!

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I was looking at the Plaides late on Saturday evening through some large binoculars and one shot straight through the middle of it, so it's been building up nicely.

Roll on Saturday and dare I say clear skies??

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Hi,

I saw one last night just before 10pm from Swansea. I had set my newly loaned meade up hoping for a first general nose around with it and whilst waiting for it to get dark one caught my eye. Wasn't looking in the right direction at the time but it was bright enough out of the corner of my eye to grab my attention . A lot brighter than expected but it soon clouded over so scope didnt get used and no more spotted.

G.

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