Comments on: Viewing the 2012 Perseid Meteor Shower

By: amsadmin

amsadmin — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 22:51:05 +0000

You were seeing the Geminid meteor shower which appear every December 13 and 14.

Robert Lunsford
American Meteor Society

By: Pamster

Pamster — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 15:36:47 +0000

My husband and I were in the hot tub last night, 12 Dec 2012, and started seeing what seemed like a meteor shower. We counted 30 occurences – most quick & short, but a few slow and long trailing. We’ve seen this once before, several years ago, but earlier in the year. Could we still be seeing Perseid meteors? I noticed 5 people reported fireballs last night, 2 were in IL and TN. A couple of the lights we saw looked larger and even like a double one or had a small tail. We live just south of Springfield, MO.

By: Richelle

Richelle — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 09:48:22 +0000

To Kristy, I have spellcheck on and it has a tendency to change my words… The word “Chlorine” is supposed to be “chalk” just didn’t want u to think I am a idiot! Okay, and everyone else that reads it, My.listed website is bad enough, LOL.
Richelle

By: Richelle

Richelle — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 09:33:55 +0000

I live in Northern California (Wine Country) 1/2 hr from Bodega Bay and it was just spectacular! Did u and the BD boy get a chance to.see it? I read ur post so since we live close (as far as the sky is concerned) I didn’t bother posting… I was unhappy to say the least, that u didn’t get a response. I guess its expeted with the volume of questions to reply to… Chlorine it up to human error! Anyway, hope u didn’t miss the show and Happy Belated BD to ur significant other!!!
Sincerely,

Richelle

By: amsadmin

amsadmin — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 21:25:03 +0000

Cameron and All,

September is not the strongest month for meteors, especially in Australia, where the influx of random is near its annual minimum. If the sky is clear then my suggestion would be head out of town this weekend and point out some of the interesting objects in the night sky above. Start with a list of satellites that you can look for. Visit http://www.heavens-above.com, log in and print a list of satellites for your location. Go out just as it becomes dark as this is the best time to try and view satellites. Satellites will appear just like stars, only they move slowly, taking around 5 minutes to cross the sky. While looking for satellites you can point out some of the other highlights of the sky. First will be Saturn and the bright star Spica, which will appear low in the west not far above the horizon. Slightly higher in the west, but dimmer (but distinctly orange) Mars will lie very close to the star called Zubenelgunbi (love that name!) in the constellation of Libra the scales. Overhead the Milky Way will look like a long cloud stretching from the southwest to the northeast. The brightest part will lie nearly overhead in the constellation of Sagittarius. While looking at all this stuff you might get lucky a catch a meteor, which will appear like a “shooting star”.

I hope this helps!

Robert Lunsford
American Meteor Society

By: cameron

cameron — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 02:06:13 +0000

dear robert i am from australia and i can not seem to find anything on predictions of shooting starts this month of september !! i am only asking because my girl friend has never seen one and i would love to show her how beautiful they are !! …like we can always just lay out side but i thought maybe there might be some predictions of when one might happen !! i live in qeensland austraila in the city of rockhampton if you could point me in the right derection i would be very greatful or just any help on this matter would be great !! thank you regards cameron

By: Richard Hope

Richard Hope — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 21:49:32 +0000

Hi Diana, I hope my tips were of use to you. Did you manage to see and make any photgraphs? I managed 1 on Thursday 9th though there were huge cloud banks about. Friday night was perfect but I had massive problems with condenstaion / dew on the lens and gave up without a useful photo. Saturday and Sunday nights were 100% overcast, a big thunder storm and rain. Next year I am going to try to get to maybe Madeira, much warmer so less chance of dew and I should be able to get above the clouds on the mountains. Anyway, a year to think and plan. Let me know if you managed anything.

By: michael

michael — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 18:36:30 +0000

I couldn’t see anything. Too much dust and too many lights.

By: Brenna

Brenna — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 09:41:49 +0000

I saw a meteoroid or whatever the proper term is, at 4:15 am this morning in Aurora, Ontario right outside my window. It seemed very close.

By: amsadmin

amsadmin — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 19:51:40 +0000

The actual results on the morning of maximum activity were a bit better than expected. I was out viewing from the mountains in eastern San Diego County. The sky was impressive with the Milky Way looking like a long cloud of faint stars stretching from the northeast all the way to the southwest. I was counting the meteor activity from 1:30am to 5:00am PDT. During those 3.5 hours I counted a total of 173 meteors with 144 of them belonging to the Perseid meteor shower. Many of them were faint and would not have been seen if they did not pass close to the center of my field of view. There were also many bright ones that could been seen all over the sky. Many of the brightest meteors left persistent trains, which is a result of the meteor passing through the upper atmosphere and “exciting” the air molecules and making them momentarily glow. It is not smoke from the meteor itself. Between 3 and 4am I counted a total of 52 Perseids, which was the best rate of the night. After this time the moon rose higher into the eastern sky and reduced the number of meteors seen the remainder of the night.

Perseid meteors are still active and will remain visible at reduced numbers for the next two weeks. I would not wait too long as rates fall from 20 per hour now down to near 1 in two weeks. The next major meteor shower will not occur until mid-October so take advantage of the Perseids while they are still active.

Be sure to let us know what you saw!

Robert Lunsford
American Meteor Society

By: Saru

Saru — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 01:04:07 +0000

Good evening everyone, We are from brooklyn and we are planning to view the persied meteor shower tonight.
I know its a bit late to ask but we are planning to head to long island to view the shower, but yet to have a specific location to go yet. from what we have heard the possible better view places would be location near the west babylon or the sunken meadow state park.

We are hoping to get an answer of any better viewing places with-in our area that you guys would recommend us to, I know we are asking a bit too rush, hope to get an answer as soon as possible!

Thanks so much in advance!!

By: amsadmin

amsadmin — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 20:48:21 +0000

Leslie,

Yes, you can still see Perseid activity tonight too. They appear all night long but are best see during the last few hours before dawn.

As you your second question, I am not certain as what you are asking. My guess is that you are asking if you can see the occultation of Venus by the moon tomorrow afternoon. If so, the answer is yes but only with difficulty. You must be able to find the crescent moon in the afternoon sky low in the western sky. Just above it will be a bright speck, which is Venus. The bright limb of the moon will eventually cover Venus with the planet reappearing on the western limb of the moon some 45 minutes later. Binoculars would help you see it and a telescope would be the best thing to view it though.

I hope this helps!

Robert Lunsford
American Meteor Society