08 August 2012

Perseid Meteor Shower 2012

The big meteor shower of the year, the Perseids, peaks this weekend and promises a good show for all who can find dark skies and have the patience to enjoy them. The Moon will generally cooperate with viewers since it will only interfere very late into the night, and even then will only cast a small amount of glare on an otherwise exciting event.

The Perseids are a regular meteor shower that peak over one or two days each August as the Earth plunges into a stream of particles from the comet Swift-Tuttle. As we impact these particles at tens of thousands of miles per hour, we enjoy a spectacle of shooting stars darting across our night sky, sometimes one per minute, sometimes less or even sometimes more. Your ability to see more meteors depends upon three things: (a) dark sky, (b) dark adaptation, and (c) lateness of the night. The darker the sky, the fainter the meteors you will see. The longer you are in your dark environment, the better your eyes will adapt to the dark and enable you to see fainter objects. And finally, later in the night the Earth is intercepting more and more meteors, right up until the first light of dawn.

The shower peaks on Saturday night August 11th and Sunday night August 12th. Your best bet in the San Francisco Bay Area will be locations away from city lights with good views across the entire sky, but in particular with a good eastern horizon.

EarthSky has a helpful article about the Perseids. From EarthSky: "They radiate from a point in the constellation Perseus the Hero. You don’t need to know Perseus to watch the shower because the meteors appear in all parts of the sky. The Perseids are considered by many people to be the year’s best shower, and often peak at 50 or more meteors per hour in a dark sky."

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I live in San Jose... where is a good place to see the showers?

The Urban Astronomer said...

hi Anonymous - I don't know the best spots in San Jose. Ideally you want to get as far as possible from city lights, and in San Jose, there are plenty of lights. However, you have darker locales just south and west in the hills, and mountains to your east. I would recommend you check with your local astronomy club: http://www.sjaa.net.

Best of luck!
Paul

Anonymous said...

Hey Paul!

What time does the shower peak here in SF on Saturday & Sunday night?

About 1 AM - 2 AM?

Thanks!

The Urban Astronomer said...

hi Anonymous: Meteor Showers always peak after midnight, when the 'front face' of the Earth is moving directly into the meteor stream. So best viewing is after midnight, and even better is in the hours before dawn. This year, however, the early morning hours also are when the Moon will rise and the light of the Moon will interfere with the best meteor viewing. So this year for the Perseids, anytime is fine. I am a 'fair weather' meteor viewer, so I'll be out from 9 pm to midnight and then off to bed :-)

-- Paul

Felicia said...

Can we head up Mt. Hamilton in SJ?

The Urban Astronomer said...

hi Felicia - Mt. Hamilton is a good high location, and there will be more meteors tonight (Sunday night). I don't know the mountain well enough to tell you where are the best spots to park and view, but from that elevation the view should be nice.

-- Paul

The Urban Astronomer said...

Report from Mt. Tam on Saturday night 11th: A big group of San Francisco Amateur Astronomers gathered and enjoyed the Perseids. We saw a few big meteors in the 9:00 pm hour, then smaller ones during 10:00 pm, and the sky was getting going during the 11:00 hour, with big and small ones getting up to about 15-20 per hour. Overall I saw about 30 for that time period (9-12), and then my son and I were too tired to stay so we headed home. But there were many more SFAAers up there and I am sure the meteors improved as the night went on. A good display of Perseids and a nice summer evening from my point of view.

-- Paul

Anonymous said...

Do you have directions for a good spot on mt tam??? I've never been there before. Will we be able to see anything Monday night?

The Urban Astronomer said...

Hi Anonymous - Monday night is a bit past the peak of the Perseids, so your viewing will be a bit less than it might have been on Saturday or Sunday.

Mt. Tam is in Marin County and on special astronomy nights we can go to the top of the mountain for star gazing. However, today there won't be any special programs, so unfortunately I would not recommend that as a destination for today. Just find a nice open space away from city lights just about anywhere, and you'll do fine.

-- Paul

Anonymous said...

Not sure if you've seen it yet, but I managed to catch a picture of a large meteor as it passed over San Francisco at around 2:08am!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/trophygeek/7772881236/

-TrophyGeek

The Urban Astronomer said...

Hey Trophy Geek - nice photo. Can I use it in my blog sometime?

-- Paul