Perseids Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight

[Rick G.]

Heads up! Pun intended. Tonight is the peak night for the annual summertime Perseids meteor shower.

The shower should pick up in intensity after midnight, with the most frequent sighting of meteors predicted to come between 2:00 AM to 4:00 AM.

The Moonshine light will not be a factor this year. Happy viewing. 

In other night sky news- Winter is coming. I was outside early this morning around 4:30 AM CST, and noticed that the Winter time constellations Orion the Hunter, and Taurus the Bull are already rising in the pre-dawn sky in the east. Along with the Pleiades star cluster, aka the Seven Sisters. Come winter these three well known night sky objects will be high in our winter night time sky, but, they are already making their appearance in the eastern pre-dawn sky. Where has the summer gone?

…..hope for clear skies tonight for the meteor shower. 

[acem]

Very unlikely to be cloudy anytime soon here...

Thanks for the heads up.

[Rick G.]

Here’s my sighting report from last night. It was underwhelming. I went out for 1 hour, starting at 2:00 AM. Clear skies. I only spotted 14 meteors during that 1 hour. 4 of them were impressive- long duration, bright, and left visible glowing ion / smoke trails for a few moments. The other 10 were just real quick streaks of light, no trails.

Back years ago, when we were kids we used to see like 70 to 100 meteors per hour during this Perseids shower. It’s been pooping out for quite a few years now, and not living to the hype. 

I think maybe the Earth has sucked up a lot of meteoritic debris over the decades as it orbits the Sun, and there’s less meteors to observe now than in the past? Beats me.

Anyone else see anything last night? 

[Shell1066]

2 hours ago, Rick G. said:

 

Anyone else see anything last night? 

Saw the back side of my eyelids.😆

[acem]

50 minutes ago, Shell1066 said:

Saw the back side of my eyelids.😆

Same here.

But my son saw some on his way to work at 4AM.

Honestly, I think younger eyes see more than our older eyes do.

[Board Shortener Tom]

I caught 3 this morning sitting in the sunroom having coffee.  I'm up around 4 am daily for no particular reason other than I like the quiet. I recall 4 am would have been more like the time I was heading to bed in my misspent youth. They say change is good. 😂

[Board Shortener Tom]

Saw some dandy fireballs due south just a few minutes ago. Never seen them like this before!🤩