Tonight is going to be a huge meteor shower. If you want to see the Perseids 2010 annual meteor shower, it will begin August 13th in the evening. This year could be better than most since the moon won’t be within the sky to distract from the Perseids 2010 meteors. Head out of the city at about midnight and from then until dawn hits, 75 meteors per hour could be seen in the super dark sky. A telescope is not something you’ll have to purchase for this. Resource for this article – Perseids meteor shower tonight – everything you have to know by Personal Money Store.
Now there is the Perseids 2010 meteor watch
The big meteor shower tonight known as the Perseids 2010 is the grand finale during a classic night of summer stargazing. Venus, Saturn, Mars and also the moon will be shown together on the western horizon as a “tight conjunction” at sundown as outlined by NASA. When the planets fall below the horizon about 10 p.m. the Perseids 2010 begin. If you want to know where you need to be looking at 10 p.m. for the meteors to start raining, try looking at the Perseus constellation. Meteors will come faster when the Perseus constellation gets higher into the sky and it gets darker. For sheer numbers, the best time to meteor watch is during the darkest hours before dawn on Friday morning, when at least one meteor a minute might be seen.
Meteor watching suggestions
To get the most enjoyment from the big meteor shower tonight, Alan Boyle at MSNBC offers some meteor watching tips. Get away from the light pollution causing the sky to be lit up all night in the cities. A higher elevation is going to help you a bit. If you’d like to, it is always a good idea to lie on top of a car against your windshields although you will need to bring something like a blanket to make this more comfortable. Wear something to keep you warm. Bring some tunes. Get there in enough time that your eyes can adjust to the dark and look up. Midnight can be when the Perseids 2010 can really be seen well. Just before dawn is when the peak of the show will happen.
Suggestions for photographing the meteors
The meteor shower that is happening is a great place to get some new photos. Get some tips from Pop Photo on how to get a good photo. Long-exposures and wide-open apertures mean city lights will creep into the frame and overpower the image. Use a cable release, and prevent the images from getting blurred by putting a finger on the shutter button. Put something in the foreground to help your picture to look like more than just light streaks. Use a wide, fast lens and fiddle until you get the right ISO and exposure time. Then keep shooting.
Why Perseids 2010 will be better than average
Perseids 2010 is happening as the Swift-Tuttle comet is something Earth is just passing through again. The Christian Science Monitor reports that the Swift-Tuttle comet swings around the sun once each 135 years, spewing dust and gas as it nears the sun and heats up. The comet’s last pass was in 1992. Each pass of the comet slowly thickens the dust stream it leaves behind. The patch of Swift-Tuttle’s dust stream Earth is going through this year is much denser than usual.
Additional reading
NASA
science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/05aug_perseids/” href=”http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/05aug_perseids/
MSNBC
cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/08/11/4869749-see-and-hear-the-meteor-show
Pop Photo
popphoto.com/features/how/2010/08/how-photographing-perseid-meteor-shower
Christian Science Monitor
csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0812/Meteor-shower-August-2010-how-you-can-get-the-best-view
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