Posted by Davin Flateau on 11 Aug 2005 at 1:51 pm.
Filed under Astronomy.
It’s that time of year again! Right around August 12 , the Earth floats through the dust deposited from Comet Swift-Tuttle, and we get a spectacular show in the form of the Perseid meteor shower! This is usually the best meteor shower of the year, and this year’s no exception.
To see the meteor shower, all you need is… your eyes! And clear skies. You don’t need any special equipment other than a reclining lawn chair. As you gaze upwards, you’ll see a good amount of bright “shooting stars” flash all over the skies over the course of the night. If you want to point your chair to the northeast (in the direction of the constellation Perseus, where the meteors will radiate from), it might not be a bad idea. But in general, the meteors will be all over the sky. I like to use one of those pool loungers that lies flat, so I can see the whole sky.
The best time to see the shooting star show is Thursday night (tonight) and Friday night. Like most meteor showers, the best time is from midnight to dawn. But you should see a good amount of meteors anytime as it starts to get dark.
As of this writing, the weather forecast for Wichita could come into play. Most forecasts have it being cloudy on Friday night, so your best bet will be to watch the Perseids on Thursday - tonight! The actual predicted “peak” for the Perseids this year is about noon on Friday (good luck seeing shooting stars during the day!), and that’s why the best time is equally split between Thursday night and Friday night.
Use the Comments section of this article (go to top) and let’s see if we can’t get several reports on what people saw!
For more information Sky and Telescope has an excellent guide to watching the Perseids.
Jill Wallace on 16 Feb 2006 at 7:28 pm: 1
Was there a meteor shower on Feb. 14th south of McPherson KS.
dflateau on 17 Feb 2006 at 9:20 am: 2
No meteor shower per se - but there are always random meteors in the night sky from material hitting Earth’s atmosphere. Some can be very bright!
alex on 11 Aug 2007 at 10:26 pm: 3
will i have a good chance to catch some showers tonight? (sat aug 11th and early sun aug 12th)
mommyrex on 12 Aug 2007 at 8:05 am: 4
alex, I saw some, just gazing eastish out my north-facing bedroom window around 2am and again around 4 (bit of a fireball, that one). Hope you saw some, too!
Tonight is peak. See spaceweather for viewing tips.