Perseid meteor shower

I saw *one* Perseid the other night, a bright one. It was so hot we tried sleeping in the garden!

The problem this year, is that the full Moon is about the same time as the peak of the meteor shower, and, here (London), along with the horrible sodium glow (light pollution) it's going to be difficult to see much.

I think the Perseids should be visible in all of the Northern hemisphere, not just Europe. NZ is probably too far south, but there are more and brighter stars in the sky there, and the Magellanic Clouds

I saw the Moon and Mars last night (well early this morning). So often when I've seen Mars it's been an insignificant red dot. Not now! (I think it's at the end of the month that it will be closer to Earth than it has been for 60,000 years.)

Carolyn

Was that bright light by the side of the moon moon Mars then? I did wonder. I hope it was, the whole scene looked fantastic from my window!

A huge, beautiful, hypnotic full moon lighting up my whole room, the Sea of Tranquility could be seen so clearly. I lay with the cat on my bed for a while, just staring, both of us transfixed!

Then my hands started getting hairy...

quote:

Originally posted by kylenano:
[qb]
I think the Perseids should be visible in all of the Northern hemisphere, not just Europe. [/qb]

Come to think of it, Carolyn, I'm pretty sure the Perseids were the meteor shower my ex and I enjoyed in the Connecticut countryside, around this time last year.

Quite spectacular they were, too

The Perseids are one of the most reliable meteor showers, every August, and often have fast, bright meteors that leave trails. So, yes, Kia Kaha, that's probably what you saw!

I've been watching meteors since at least 1977 when I recorded tracks of the April Lyrids on a star chart for an 'O' level Astronomy project. It's warmer in August!

I like this Finn connection - some (maybe all?) meteor showers are associated with comets, they are the dust spread out along the orbit by the Tail Of A Comet

Last night I saw the Moon and Mars rising about 11pm (British Summer Time) in the south east. One reason, apart from the fact that it's unusually bright, is sometimes when Mars is closest to the Sun, it gets covered by a global dust storm. If it happens, I'm curious as to whether it will look different in the sky.

djb when you say 'I am A bright!', do you mean as in the article I read by Richard Dawkins? I meant to follow that up...

Carolyn