Perseid meteor shower to light up night sky for a week

By Kristen Schorsch, Tribune reporter
August 12, 2009
Did you notice hundreds of necks craned to the sky Tuesday night?

They were gawking at the annual Perseid meteor shower, which every year brings up to 100 meteors per hour blazing fiery streaks across the sky as the Earth passes through the dust trail of Comet Swift-Tuttle, said Mark Hammergren, an astronomer at Adler Planetarium.

The bright spectacle isn't over yet. The meteor shower is expected to peak between 12:30 and 3 p.m. Wednesday but sky watchers only can see the meteors in the dark, Hammergren said. So sit tight until the sun sets, then look up. You could see up to one meteor a minute, Hammergren said. The show should continue for at least a week, he said.

Discovered in 1862, the comet is a giant iceberg made up of ice, rock and dust particles that likely has been in orbit for thousands of years, Hammergren said. Particles -- about the size of a sesame seed when clustered together -- slowly have been eroding from the comet every time it has approached the sun, leaving a trail of debris that the Earth's orbit intersects once a year, Hammergren said.

The particles, known as meteoroids, create a meteor shower when they collide with the Earth's atmosphere and burn up, forming fiery streaks across the sky.

A bright meteor glows as much as the brightest stars in the sky, Hammergren said. And pay close attention: They zip across the sky at about 132,000 m.p.h., leaving a gazer's sight in a second or two, he said.

The best viewing place? Get away from the city lights and look northeast.

klschorsch@tribune.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/chi-meteor-show...

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Permalink Reply by TheLasersShadow on August 12, 2009 at 11:14am

Saw 6 this morning at about 4:45am not too spectacular but interesting to see.

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Permalink Reply by WTRH-AM-AE on August 12, 2009 at 5:51pm

We have been hot and humid over here. We always is getting a lot of thunderstorms and heavy rains. There is a slim chance for me to see the meteor showers this year.

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Permalink Reply by Inheritor From ConCen on August 14, 2009 at 1:16am

I SAW IT! This is my favorite meteor shower! I've anticipated it 6 years in a row now. Last two years were overcast but last night i stayed out and saw countless meteors. Faint ones, big ones with huge tails, long lasting ones .... the perseids shower is the best. Glad you posted this Tara.

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Permalink Reply by truth on August 14, 2009 at 2:21am

The first time I saw this shower was by chance. I was on top of half dome mountain in Cali's Yosemite Nat park. It was so awesome there in the clear skies, 100 miles from city lights and 6 thousand feet up. I met others there who planned on seeing it from there, and planned their trip a year before . I just lucked out.

Truly the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. The shrooms certainly didn't hurt the experience :)

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Permalink Reply by Inheritor From ConCen on August 14, 2009 at 2:29am

awesome James. I've been to half dome twice. It sounds like a fantasy to imagine seeing this shower there. I can only imagine how incredible it was! Talk about the perfect place!!! Neat story.

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Permalink Reply by Ian on August 14, 2009 at 4:41am

im disgusted i missed it. living in Ireland has a down side... You cant see the sky most of the time. we get that much cloud, we would never notice chem trails and we miss the natural wonders of the sky aswell. ohh well maybe next time. :(

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Permalink Reply by I811st on August 15, 2009 at 5:24pm

I'm always looking up day and night analyzing the chemistry ,and in the nights leading up to the shower there were two nights where we had textbook cross gridded chemtrails across the night sky here ,near los angeles. seeing them do what they do during the day is all too common. seeing freshly laid lines on a clear night is less so.and wouldn'cha know it wed.-fri. nights the marine layer /coatal eddy had been drawn in. don't think that's coincidental , do you?
a few months back, typical sunset: