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Pheebs
11-08-2009, 10:10
What what what it is: Perseids Meteorite Showers
Where've they come from eh?: They're weeee fragments and dusticles from one of my favourite named comets... The "Swift-Tuttle" (hehehe! Makes me giggle every time!)
When HM hm hmmm?: From 11th through to 14th (some say peaking 12th, others 13th) of August
Where to looksy: The easiest way to find it would be to look for Cassiopeia (the W looking constellation) and a lot of the action should be below thaaar! It's nestled in the Perseus constellation but peoples don't seem to know this constellation as well :) Although saying this and regularly they do crop up elsewhere!
How many should I see?: Well when I've watched previously I've seen one every couple of minutes in the peak. Sometimes though it may only be one every ten minutes or so. BUT! They are spectacular! Shoot across the whole sky jobbos! Truly beautiful! Oh and this time round you will be able to spot more just prior to dawn time!

Tis probably the best shower of the year - I absolutely heart them! If it's a clear night tonight and tomorrow then I will be sleeping on a rug outside in my sleepybag and with my blanky to watch these :D Come join come join!

Wubbles, your night sky lubbing friend,

Pheebsicle.

Tak
11-08-2009, 10:15
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8193769.stm :)

Briggykins
11-08-2009, 10:17
Stupid Triffids

Roberta
11-08-2009, 10:59
Fab. I'll be watching out.

Pheebs
11-08-2009, 11:23
\o/

Looks like I'm camping under the stars on my lonesome! Apparently it's a silly thing to do!

Booooooo!

*is excited*

Feek
11-08-2009, 11:33
I shall be pointing my aerials at them and seeing if there's any meteor scatter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_scatter). I bet you didn't know that one can bounce radio signals off of them :)

divine
11-08-2009, 11:36
I'll probably get my camera out but i'm not expecting much in the middle of a city.

Mark
11-08-2009, 11:39
Cloudy here. Expect it'll still be cloudy here.

\o/

Looks like I'm camping under the stars on my lonesome! Apparently it's a silly thing to do!

Booooooo!

*is excited*

I'm (virtually) with you. Call himself a Physics teacher! He of all people should know better. :p

Knipples
11-08-2009, 11:44
I wanna camp out! :(

Pheebs
11-08-2009, 12:36
I wanna camp out! :(

Come down! :D


And Feek - Really!?! Coooooooooooooooooooooooooool!!! How does that like... work then!?! Wickedy woo woo! (Pickers is being mean. I thought you would be able to like... record it somehow. Like a bounce back or something. Pickys still laughing. Bar steward.)

Knipples
11-08-2009, 12:59
Come down! :D




If I wasnt taking my bro to the cinema this evening to cheer him up (he's split up with his girlfriend) then i'd be there :(

Roberta
11-08-2009, 13:06
I shall be in Mid Wales in the middle of nowhere tomorrow night so me and my sister are rounding the kids up and taking them out to look for meteors!

Mark
11-08-2009, 13:27
http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23meteorwatch

Pheebs
11-08-2009, 23:11
Wrapped up and heading outside :)

\o/

Beautiful night people :)

divine
11-08-2009, 23:19
Not seen much and they're meant to be best between 9 and 11... (moon has come over the horizon now so its very bright quite nearby)

Tried taking pics though I don't think I got anything as my remote is knackered and so i'm stuck with 30s exposures which don't match well with my patience levels.

Mark
11-08-2009, 23:21
Hmm, probably too late for me then. May as well go outside and look though as it's supposed to be clouding over before the early morning show.

Mark
12-08-2009, 01:20
Well, I got a nice time-lapse of a cloud rolling in, but no meteors. Should have set the camera up a few hours earlier tbh.

Pheebs
12-08-2009, 09:42
We saw a nice handful :D

One biggish one, the rest were fairly ickle! Fell asleep though after an hour or two and then woke up to a solid cloud sky :( Was gutted! Picky decided to go in and considering there was zero chance of me seeing anything I followed rather sad :(

Hopefully the clouds will blow away and another night of sky watching can commence!

Pickers
12-08-2009, 12:15
Well, I got a nice time-lapse of a cloud rolling in, but no meteors. Should have set the camera up a few hours earlier tbh.

Surely with time lapse there would be little chance of capturing a meteor given that it flashes for maybe one or two tenths of a second...?

divine
12-08-2009, 12:17
I would imagine he meant long exposure as time lapse requiring hooking up to a computer still in most cases as far as I remember, which would be a massive work up.

Pickers
12-08-2009, 12:21
That makes more sense..

Mark
12-08-2009, 13:37
Actually, it was both. I forgot to set bulb mode on the camera though so the exposures weren't long enough, and it wasn't focused well enough either, so no chance of catching anything even if it wasn't cloudy. Live and learn. :)

Denic
12-08-2009, 23:39
It's still cloudy here. *Goes to have another look.*

Garp
12-08-2009, 23:48
Tropical Depression Felicia (formerly hurricane class 4 but now just sad) ruined any chance of seeing them here :( Hoping she disappears shortly so I can look :)

Mark
13-08-2009, 00:58
Nowt doing here tonight. You need to be oop north to see anything today it seems. :(

Roll on 2010 then. No moon to get in the way.

Pheebs
13-08-2009, 09:33
I saw no action last night either :( Darn clouds!!

Might catch the odd few tonight though! There's still hope!

Tak
13-08-2009, 09:38
Few photos on BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/8197582.stm

SCM
13-08-2009, 11:46
Yeah didn't get a chance to see anything either due to weather being crap here ah well always next year.

divine
13-08-2009, 12:00
Or tonight. And a few days after that.

They last about month, last night was just the expected peak, there will likely be almost as many tonight still, they don't just turn off :p

Pheebs
13-08-2009, 12:33
Sarcy wotsit :p

They die down rapidly though after tonight... as opposed to one every few minutes it's going to be one or two an hour and rapidly decreasing. Now, I canny see even myself (avid sky watcher) on my back watching out for them random few an hour knowing how much I blink and am distracted :) Don't get me wrong, I will be pausing for long moments to stare at the sky but not a whole night :)

divine
13-08-2009, 12:53
Well for a period of around a week they should be appearing about the rate of one per minute or more (though not always bright enough to see).

The peak night they were appearing at the rate of roughly 2 per minute.

Pheebs
13-08-2009, 15:18
Okie pokie :) I'm just speaking from my experience of watching the shower religiously for the past oooh... good 12 odd years now :)