Wil's Domain Weblog

Are you one of the millions of skygazers prepared for the annual Perseid meteor shower? If your local area has clear skies, you could be one of the fortunate people to witness the climax of the Perseid meteor shower. The tail of Comet Swift-Tuttle will light up the night sky, delighting those who are gazing up at the Perseid and other celestial objects in the clear celestial skies above.

Depending on the weather and sky condition in your area, Tuesday night and especially Wednesday night are the best times for viewing of mind-blowing moments during the Perseid meteor shower: the shooting stars.

To witness , you must be one of the skywatchers who is willing to remain awake between 2 and 4 a.m. — just after midnight, incline their heads upwards to view the clear skies, and wait patiently the arrival of the shooting stars.

Prior to the celestial fireworks event, be sure to enjoy the view of the shining moon, as well as two distant planets in the eastern sky.

What is the Perseid meteor shower?

Because this year is International Year of Astronomy, each month of 2009 will showcase a major and/or minor celestial event. However, August will feature the 2009 Perseid Meteor Shower.

What is a Perseid meteor shower? Perseid meteor showers are merely the remains of a fragmented asteroid or oftentimes the remains of
a passing comet.

Here’s a very important fact: As a comet — a relatively small extraterrestrial body — travels toward the inner solar system, intense heat radiating from the sun vaporizes some of the ice on the nucleus’ surface.

During this time, gas, dirt and dust particles are spewed into space — forming a tail (a thin, elongated stream of debris) that can stretch across millions of miles of space.

Amazingly, Earth is blocking the path into which the gas, dirt and dust particles will collide with the planet’s atmosphere.

As the tail of dust particles collides with the Earth’s atmosphere, the climatic celestial event results in a showcase of shooting stars.

During this spectacular event, the dust particles are burnt up upon impact with this planet’s atmosphere, resulting in the annual Perseid meteor shower.

You don’t need to be a NASA astronaut, engineer, scientist, technologist, mission controller or employee to view the Perseid meteor shower. Moreover, a high-powered telescope or binoculars are not required to view the annual meteor shower. Surprisingly, the meteor showers are best seen with the unaided human eye.

Although many starwatchers will see some Perseids throughout the month of August, the best times to see that the Perseid meteor shower is on the night of Wednesday, August 12th. Just after midnight, in the very early morning, you can expect to see up to 100 meteors per hour shooting across the clear skies above. During this time, Perseid meteors will appear as streaks of shooting star.

It is imperative that lookup your local Meteorwatch overnight and join a meteor star party near you.

Happy stargazing!

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You can learn all about this and other celestial objects and events at http://www.nasa.gov

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