Mooned-out Meteor Shower

We can't seem to catch a break with the usually good and reliable Perseid meteor shower. Not only has the weather prevented us from viewing this once great shooting star display in past years, but lately even the shower itself appears to be on the decline.

This year is no exception as far as observing conditions are concerned, for the Perseids peak on the night of the Full Moon, August 12/13!! You know, normally I would recommend that you find something else to occupy your time that night, but I for one need a meteor shower fix. Glaring moonlight is going to wash out all but the brightest of the Perseid members, but at least we will see a few. That is, of course, if the shower doesn't fizzle like it did last year with some of the fewest numbers in recent memory.

The shower is expected to peak before midnight, but unfortunately the Full Moon will wash out all but the brightest members of this shower. If the radiant point (the constellation Perseus) for the Perseid shower were somewhere else in the sky, we might have a better chance of seeing more meteors. As it is, the radiant rises off the northeast horizon, the same general direction of the rising Full Moon.

In spite of this very much less than favorable prospect for the Perseids, I for one am still going to go out and see how many I can observe under these awful conditions. It will better prepare me for those future showers when I tell you to definitely stay inside and read a book!

Also, regardless of the bright interfering moonlight, you still want to maximize your observing opportunities by choosing a dark site from which to observe. Get comfortable in a lounge chair, face northeast, protect yourself with mosquito repellent, and enjoy the show. Once the Moon gets in your eyes you'll want to watch somewhere in the sky away from the moon. Even try to block the moon from direct vision using a building if you can.

Normally the Perseid shower produces about 60 meteors per hour at peak, but in recent years that number had risen to 120 or so per hour. Last year the numbers were only about 30 per hour at peak. With the bright Moon flooding the sky with light, I can hazard a guess that only 10 to 15 meteors per hour will be seen. Perseids are usually green, red or orange. Fireballs, brilliant and exploding meteors, have been more frequent as well. The Perseids are really fast shooting stars too, coming in at around 134,222 miles per hour. Stay alert and be ready to duck!

Good luck with the August shower of stardust. Keep your eyes to the skies.