This Sunday evening and Monday morning, there will be one of the
best meteor showers you and your family can watch – the Perseids. And since the Moon will not be in the sky
during this shower, dark skies will make it easier for even casual viewers to
spot a good number of “shooting stars.”
The best night is the evening of Aug. 12th and morning
of Aug. 13th, although there could be significantly more meteors in
the sky on the night before and the night after too. Meteors
or “shooting stars” (which have nothing to do with stars) are pieces of cosmic
dust and dirt hitting the Earth’s atmosphere at high speed and making a flash
of light. These flashes could happen
anywhere in the sky, so it’s best to view the shower from a dark, wide-open
place. See the list at the end for
viewing suggestions.
The Perseid meteors are cosmic “garbage” left over from a
regularly returning comet, called Swift-Tuttle (after the two astronomers who
first discovered it). The comet itself returns to the inner solar system
every 130 years or so; it was last here in 1992. During each pass, it
leaves dirt and dust behind and it is this long dirt and dust stream that we
encounter every August.
Each flash you see is a bit of material from the comet hitting the
Earth’s atmosphere and getting heated up (and heating up the air around it) as
it speeds through our thick atmosphere. Both the superheated dust and
dirt and the heated air contribute to the visible light we observe. Since
comets are left-overs from the early days of our solar system, you can tell
yourself (or your kids) that each flash of light is the “last gasp” of a bit of
cosmic material that formed some 5 billion years ago.
MY EIGHT HINTS
FOR “TAKING
A METEOR SHOWER”
1. Get away from city lights and find a location that’s relatively
dark
2. If it’s significantly foggy or cloudy, you’re out of luck
3. Your location should allow you to see as much of the dome of
the sky as possible
4. Allow time for your eyes to get adapted to the dark (at least
10 -15 minutes)
5. Don’t
use a telescope or binoculars – they restrict your view (so you don’t have to
be part of the 1% with fancy equipment to see the shower; this is a show for
the 99%!)
6. Dress
warm – it can get cooler at night even in August (and don’t forget the insect
repellent while you are outside)
7. Be patient (it’s not fireworks): keep looking up & around
& you’ll see flashes of light
8. Take someone with you with whom you like to spend time in the
dark!
[The photo shows a Perseid meteor over the Very Large Telescope at the European Southern Observatory in Chile.]
