Perseids

“Fair warning to plan a trip.
The Perseids meteor shower will peak on August 10th / 11th.

As if you needed another reason to get out”

“How convenient, that's over a weekend! I'll be sure to be backpacking that night and hoping for clear skies.”

“I thought the peak was Monday night? Heck, I'll be out all weekend anyway... I think I might try to stretch the weekend 'til Tuesday, <grin>.

Perseids 2002



Active       : July 17-August 24;

Maxima       : August 12, 20:15 UT (4:15 PM EDT) 

               August 12, 22:30 UT (6:30 PM EDT) <primary>

               August 13, 08:30 UT (4:30 AM EDT)

ZHR          = variable 100-110 (main peak);

Velocity     = 59 km/s;





Monday Evening, August 12-13 



The Moon (25% full) sets at about 11pm local time and the fun should last until about 6am when the GD 'rosey fingered dawn' begins to muck things up.



Moonset

   Friday  :  9:27 PM EDT (2%)

   Saturday: 10:04 PM EDT (8%) 

   Sunday  : 10:39 PM EDT (15%)

   Monday  : 11:12 PM EDT (25%)



(YMMV........Your Moonset May Vary)

Figure 8: Radiant position of the Perseids



(that's Perseus on the bottom right and Cassiopeia to the upper left, in the northestern sky)


"The Perseids were one of the most exciting and dynamic meteor showers during the last decade, with outbursts at the shower's primary maximum producing EZHRs of 400+ in 1991 and 1992. Rates from this peak decreased to about 100-120 by the late 1990s, and in 2000 it failed to appear. This was not unexpected, as the outbursts and the primary maximum (which was not noticed before 1988), were associated with the perihelion passage of the Perseids' parent comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle in 1992. The comet's orbital period is about 130 years, so it is now receding back into the outer Solar System, and theory predicts that such outburst rates should dwindle as the comet to Earth distance increases. However, we have still listed this time here, allowing for the annual shift of aboubt +0.05° in lambda the peak had shown from 1991-1999, because confirming the peak's absence at present is as important as observing it again. The most probable maximum time is that of the "traditional" peak, always previously found, close to lambda=140.0°. A new feature first reported from IMO data in 1997 was a tertiary peak at lambda=140.4°, which recurred in 1998 and 1999. ZHRs from this peak have been around 75+/-10 so far, but there are no guarantees it will reappear in 2002. August's new Moon provides a superb opportunity for observers to cover the whole period right across the maximum dates this year whatever happens. As the radiant rises throughout the night for the northern hemisphere, watching from an hour or two before local midnight until dawn twilight grows too strong is eminently practical. If the maxima appear as predicted, the ideal places to be should include Asia and central Russia; Europe and North Africa to the Near East; and North America, respectively. Visual and photographic observers should need little encouragement to cover this stream, but telescopic and video watching near the main peak would be valuable in confirming or clarifying the possibly multiple nature of the Perseid radiant, something not detectable visually. Recent video results have shown a very simple, single radiant structure however. Radio data would naturally enable early confirmation, or detection, of perhaps otherwise unobserved maxima if the timings or weather conditions prove unsuitable for land-based sites. The only negative aspect to the shower is the impossibility of covering it from the bulk of the southern hemisphere."

(courtesy of the IMO)

More”

“(string-of-expletives deleted)


<GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR>”

“Dang kids!
Always messn' around!”

“I think it was that sentence about 'mucking things up' inside the <pre> tags.

How Appropriate.

LOL”

“You'd think there're be a better way than

.”

“Gotta love those quick-an-dirty trix, tho'!”

“That should be "than performated".”

“Awesome.. need to add a backpacking trip on that weeekend!!

JoshMan?.. Maybe we can go do Eagle Bluff that weeekend?”

“What a mess!

Would it be too much to ask you people to keep your fancy-schmancy HTML antics off this board?”

“Yes, what Violin said! I'm not going to read or post on this string.”

“Oops!”

“Yeah, what Violin said, and posting pix of festering moldy smelly feet, too, particularly of the left variety!”

“<RASPBERRY>”

“hell, that's my last day at camp, end to my nissimaha, i'll have to convince the rest of them to paddle out in the middle of the lake... that'd be pretty cool if the shower hits hard, even if it doesn't, a midnight paddle is always in call... enjoyable :)”

“Well, Simer, I ran 'nissimaha' through Alta Vista, Google and OneLook Dictionaries and it came up goose-eggs each time.”

“lol, i'm not sure what it stands for, it's a backpacking trip with ymca camp menogyn, after my last 2 invitational trips, the 'nor'wester' and 'Hommed du Nord' we get to choose what we do, which would be the 'nissimaha' and we have 21 days, we chose backpacking in the absorokas, 13 days total on trail, the other days are preparing, packing, planning, transportatoin, as well as a final night in camp. hope that explains it :)”

“i have this pain in my lower back ....think it could be Perseids??”

“Gotcha, Simer. It definitely sounds like Native Terminology.


Strat... you need to get one of those fold-out lounge chairs. And some of those Doan's Pills!”

“thanks for the Perseids info. I'll be stuck in a class in Phoenix from Aug 11 - 17th. Where would a good viewing place be in the Phoenix area?”

“Try South Mt. Or someplace half way to Flagstaff.”

“OK, I knew it must be around but I searched "meteor" not Perseid.”

“well i will definitely be hiking that weekend.. so if anyone wants to join me.. let's figure out where we are going.. :)”

“Yeah what a bummer about the peak date. I'll be in Hawaii, on Kuaii, camping on Kalalau Beach, on the Na Pali Coast, miles from any lights, in one of the best places in the world to view the heavens. Oh wait, that's a good thing!”

“hey arc.. you should go see keck, maybe theyll let you borrow the big un ;)”

“The Perseids are nice, Ive seen them yr after yr....Does anyone here own a telescope and take it out onto the dark skies?
I was asking cause im into it quite a bit, Ive had my 8" Schmid Cassigrain Scope for a while now, and normally take it out on car camping runs.....nothing like the nebula, clusters and galaxies under the milkyway on a summer night.....dont 4get the beer tho.
cheers....
.....zay”

“Is that the one on Hawaii, up on Mauna Kea, d.o.m.? Unfortunately they don't allow rental cars up there and the walk would take too much of our way-too-short time on the Big Island. We'll be hiking the Kalalau Trail and hiking up Haleakala (on Maui). On the Big Island we'll be visiting Volcanos National Park and doing a lot of snorkeling. I want to go back because we won't have time to kayak the Na Pali Coast or hike up Mauna Loa (on Hawaii). Those are two trips that are on my list. From the top of Mauna Loa we could very easily hike to the observatory on Mauna Kea. Got any connections there?

I'mexcitedaboutthistripdoesitshow?”

“Have a GREAT trip man!”

“have a great time Arcy!”

“Back to the top.”