Shooting star

[phill]

Hey guys, my girlfriend want to see a shootin star, so ever the romantic, i thought it would make a good evenin led on a hill starin up to the stars.

Excuse my ignorance, but a shootin star is a meteor shower isn't it? I had a scout around on the net, but none of the data i found made much sense to myself, could any one tell me when is the best date and time to see a shootin star? I live in the southwest of England.

Thanks for any advice or help guys.

Phill

[Ant]

Hi Phill,

Meteors are visible all the time, there are times of the year where more meteors will be visible in a given time...

The sporadic (background) rate is around 5 - 8 per hour, but it's really a case of looking in the right place at the right time.

The following is a breif list of the more popular meteor shows (taken from Wikipedia).

Quadrantids - Early January

Lyrids late - April (10 - 15 per hour)

Pi Puppids - late April

Eta Aquarids - early May

Arietids - mid June

June Bootids - late June

Southern Delta Aquarids - late July

Perseids mid - August (60+ per hour)

Draconids - early October

Orionids - late October

Southern Taurids - early November

Northern Taurids - mid November

Leonids - mid November

Geminids - mid December

Ursids - late December

HTH

Ant

[phill]

Ok, so its gona be pot luck then :-D oh well, can still stare in to the hevens, and wonder at this amazing creation, even if we dont see a shootin star. Thanks Ant

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

You could cheat and show her an Iridium flare. :-)

Another cool thing to see is the International Space Station. Check www.heavens-above.com for details of when and where.

Kaptain Klevtsov

[The Warthog]

For me, the best date is about August 12th. The best way of looking for shooting stars is to lay down a comfortable pad on the hilltop, and lie there looking at the sky and chatting about the constellations. Eventually, with a bit of luck, you will see shooting stars...

[phill]

Thanks for the tip for the iridom flaire, i dunno if i could handle such deception ;-) ok so i got this up, so looking at this one, where approx in the nite sky do i have to look?

08 May 00:28:27 -2 41° 221° (SW ) 25.4 km (W) -8 Iridium 47

Your all stars :-D

[The Warthog]

About halfway from the horison to the zenith, in the southwest. You just need to be close; it's unmistakeable when it happens.

[beamish]

There were a few of each last night !!

[saturns_rings]

i saw a shooting star last night very clear, was at about ten to 11 id say, right near lyra.

[The Warthog]

I believe the average count for sporadic meteors is two per hour. They may be very faint, but when I am observing in dark skies, I always see one or two.

[blobrana]

"The Southern Delta Aquarids are a meteor shower visible from mid July to mid August each year with peak activity on July 28 or 29 July."

Read more

[narrowbandpaul]

if u want to catch a meteorite, then just look to the sky, if u watch for long enough you will see one. But if not get out around the time of the perseids...they are a nice show, and perseus is nicely placed around 11o clock in east. You'll definately see one then

Just for clarification a meteor is a ball of rock that earth smashes into on it way around the sun. Meteors form from comets that have been warmed by the sun...they are bits that have fallen off the comet. A comet is a big ball of ice, dust and gas, it is the leftovers of solar system formation around 4.7billion years ago.

Hope this helps, and that u see one soon