Perseids Meteor Shower

Today is the peak of the perseids meteor shower of 2009. The perceids "meteor shower" is the most famous of all meteor showers. It never fails to provide an impressive display and, due to its summertime appearance, it tends to provide the majority of meteors seen by non-astronomy enthusiasts.

This meteor shower gets the name "Perseids" because it appears to radiate from the constellation Perseus. An observer in the Northern Hemisphere can start seeing Perseid meteors as early as July 23, when one meteor every hour or so could be visible. During the next three weeks, there is a slow build-up. It is possible to spot five Perseids per hour at the beginning of August and perhaps 15 per hour by August 10. The Perseids rapidly increase to a peak of 50-80 meteors per hour by the night of August 12/13 and then rapidly decline to about 10 per hour by August 15. The last night meteors are likely to be seen from this meteor shower is August 22, when an observer might see a Perseid every hour or so.

For observers in the Southern Hemisphere, the Perseid radiant never climbs above the horizon, which will considerably reduce the number of Perseid meteors you are likely to see. Nevertheless, on the night of maximum, it is possible to see 10-15 meteors per hour coming up from the northern horizon.

(Source: http://meteorshowersonline.com/perseids.html)

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LINKS

NASA: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/31jul_perseids2009.htm
ESA: http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM9GAUL05F_Germany_0.html
NationalGeographic: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/08/090810-perseid-meteor-shower....
MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14295717/
Wired: http://www.wired.com/geekdad/tag/perseids/

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Meteorwatch on Twitter
astronomy2009uk: http://twitter.com/astronomy2009uk
guardianscience http://twitter.com/guardianscience
VirtualAstro http://twitter.com/VirtualAstro

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Music
Nathanwills - "Twilight Tweet"
http://www.nathanwillsmusic.com
http://www.youtube.com/paradigma

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Follow me on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/saraparker

Category:

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[iAMsoBEAST1]

Did it peak last night or will it peak tonight? Answer quickly

[DeliriumReal]

@iAMsoBEAST1 tomorrow :) new vid is coming

[Regurtless]

you're german? I couldn't tell

[DeliriumReal]

@Regurtless I take this as a compliment... I probably would do the vid a bit different today though... thanks for commenting :)

[pntyrump]

The end of thats cool, nice job!

[DeliriumReal]

thanks,... maybe I am lucky this year to actually see some

[CannibalCarp]

What a sweetheart. Anyone passing here know if that a meteor impact would leave a strong "field" of radiation and would it leave sand vitrifications as a nuke weapon would?

[apfotocanada]

you are nuts, but cute...

[hindflight]

Live in Los Angeles and the Perseids were a bit disappointing this year. Too much light perhaps. A nice view of Jupiter made up for it though.

[FromBottomToTop]

wow..featured! thats a goal, sara!

[HeartGoldFan100]

can you see the meteor shower in hawaii

[ac23AQ]

Show us your boobs!

[greenteanation]

I had an affair with myself while watching the Perseids meteor shower - Pink Crush by GreenTeaHP -

[AstroSteem]

Overall I've seen about 50 perseïds last night with one reaching magnitude -4! The video I made is posted on youtube (search for: Perseïden op 12-13 augustus 2010 te Lochem ) but the compression is kind of crap...

[iAMsoBEAST1]

@TenaciousC1216 kk I was getting really confused. I didn't know if she meant the AM of the twelfth which would have been this morning...