Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Perseid Meteor Shower, August 12, 2009

No matter where I've been, I've rarely missed a Perseid Meteor Shower. So, this morning I drove west on Hwy. 60 from Bartlesville toward Pawhuska, Oklahoma around 4:45 a.m. , figuring it would be a higher elevation, away from the low fog in the valley. Found a good spot on an off-road, parked the pickup, pulled out a chair, and waited. The half-moon was really bright, but at least it moved almost directly overhead by 6:00 a.m. Looking mainly toward Orion, I saw three very bright meteors. I listened to crickets in the field, watched the pink glow of sunrise to the east, and tried to avoid bright headlights coming up the highway. The meteor shower could have been more visible, but there are more coming up soon, such as these:

ORIONIDS
Predicted Maximum: October 21 (broad and irregular)
Moon: Waxing Crescent (no interference)

WHEN TO WATCH: From about 1:00 am until twilight gets too bright, on any morning from Tuesday, October 20 through Thursday, October 22.
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LEONIDS
Predicted Maximum: November 17, ~21:00 UT (=Nov. 17, 1:00pm PST; Nov. 17, 4:00pm EST)
Moon: New Moon (no interference)

WHEN TO WATCH: The predicted outburst, perhaps with rates of 100-500 Leonids per hour, strongly favors Asian observers, who should watch on the morning of November 18. North American observers should especially try to cover the morning of Tuesday, November 17 in case of unusual activity leading up to this peak. The Moon will be completely out of the picture and will not cause any problems.
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GEMINIDS
Predicted Maximum: December 14, ~5:00 UT (=Dec. 13, 9pm PST; =Dec. 14, 12am EST)
Moon: New Moon (no interference)
(radiant map from IMO)

WHEN TO WATCH: The Geminids have a fairly broad maximum, so viewing should be productive throughout the entire night of December 13/14 (late Sunday evening into Monday morning). New Moon this year allows coverage of the entire night. Sunday morning, December 13 and Monday evening, December 14 could be worth watching as well.
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The Perseids should be visible tomorrow morning as well, so perhaps I'll try again.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi,

Would you be knowing what would be a good time to watch these metoirs from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada? Also if you can let me know about an approximate location, that would be great too. I'll be periodically checking your post.

Thanking you.

Sam H

admin said...

I really like to watch Meteor showers here in my country- Philippines.