STAR Party: The 2007 Perseid Meteor Shower August 8, 2007

Target Date: August 13th

This is one of the best shower of the year. The source of the shower is Comet Swift-Tuttle. Although the comet is nowhere near Earth, the comet's wide tail does intersect Earth's orbit. We glide through it every year in July and August. Tiny bits of comet dust hit Earth's atmosphere traveling 132,000 mph. At that speed, even a tiny smidgen of dust makes a vivid streak of light--a meteor--when it disintegrates. The shower is most intense when Earth is in the dustiest part of the tail.

Perseid meteors fly out of the constellation Perseus, hence their name. The best time to watch is during the hours before sunrise when Perseus is high in the sky (use a sky map, many avilable on the web). Between 2 a.m. and dawn on August 13, if you get away from city lights, you could see hundreds of meteors. Meteor gazers, this is a good time to go camping! We always end the event with a group breakfast.

Predictions:
http://www.imo.net/calendar/2007