Perseid Meteor Shower 2007?

Question

can anyone tell me the approximate date and time for the Perseid meteor shower? also, where is the best place to view in LA? thanks

Answer 1

You can start observing the Perseid meteor shower after about 11:00 PM local time on Saturday night with the peak on Sunday night/Monday morning. Just get a dark viewing site, a comfortable reclining chair, some warm clothes, bug repellent and look up. There will be ~30 meteors/hour Saturday night and about 60-80/hour on Sunday night. As a general rule, the best time for meteor viewing is after midnight into the early morning.

If you are in LA, you will need to try to shield your vision from streetlights to see the dimmer meteors. If you can get out of the city, you will see more meteors. The city lights will probably wash out a fair number of them for you.

Answer 2

The show begins between 9:00 and 10:00 pm on Sunday, August 12th, when Perseus rises in the northeast. This is the time to look for Perseid Earthgrazers--meteors that approach from the horizon and skim the atmosphere overhead like a stone skipping the surface of a pond.

As the night unfolds, Perseus climbs higher and the meteor rate will increase many-fold. "By 2 am on Monday morning, August 13th, dozens of Perseids may be flitting across the sky every hour." The crescendo comes before dawn when rates could exceed a meteor a minute.

And there's a bonus: Mars. In the constellation Taurus, just below Perseus, Mars shines like a bright red star. Many of the Perseids you see on August 12th and 13th will flit right past it. Instead of following the meteor, you may find you have a hard time taking your eyes off Mars. There's something bewitching about it, maybe the red color or perhaps the fact that it doesn't twinkle like a true star. You stare at Mars and it stares right back.

Answer 3

The Perseid meteor shower peaks on the new-Moon night of Sunday–Monday, August 12–13 and can be seen from anyplace in the northern hemisphere.

The Perseids have a broad peak. So don't despair if clouds are forecast for Sunday night — or if work obligations prevent you from staying up until dawn on Monday.

The meteor rate increases to roughly 30 per hour in the predawn hours on Saturday, 45 per hour on Sunday morning, and 80 per hour before the sky starts to get light on Monday morning. That's for a single observer at a dark-sky site in the north temperate latitudes.

The Perseid meteors appear to stream away from their radiant near the border of Perseus and Cassiopeia. But wherever you see them, they appear to be moving away from the shower's radiant point near the Perseus/Cassiopeia border. This is a perspective effect, happening for the same reason that snowflakes appear to stream away from the center of the road when you're driving through a snowstorm.

On any given night, activity starts slowly in the evening but picks up by 11 p.m., when the radiant gets reasonably high in the sky. The meteor rate increases steadily through the night as the radiant rises higher, peaking just before the sky starts to get light, roughly 1½ to 2 hours before sunrise.

For the most pleasant viewing experience, find a spot far from any city lights. Perseids tend to be relatively bright as meteors go, but you'll still see more the darker your skies are. Bring a reclining chair so that you can view high in the sky in comfort; there's no point in filling half your field of view with trees. Don't forget warm, mosquito-proof clothes or, better, a sleeping bag. No matter how hot the days are, it can get surprisingly chilly under a clear sky late at night, especially whan you're inactive. And for many people, the most important accessory is bug spray for the parts of you that remain exposed!

It doesn't really matter where in the sky you watch; meteors can appear anywhere. Just watch where it's darkest, usually straight up. It's probably best not to stare directly at the radiant, because meteors there leave short trails.

Answer 4

Step outside.
Don't expect miracles, but it's going on now and will be for the remainder of the weekend. I haven't seen meteor activity yet tonight, so it's an off year, apparently.

Answer 5

The showers are from August 8th-14th, peaking around the 12th.

You probably won't have much luck viewing from LA, though. A hill would probably be your best bet.

Answer 6

The experts can't guarantee the exact hour of the peak in any given year. You can read when it's expected in other parts of the world and adjust for the clock differences.

Answer 7

the best isto go on ur roof or to a camp ground or a desolete place the less people the better
=]
have fun