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Meteor showers this week


dtel

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Well if you like this kind of thing, it's this week.

 

"The annual Perseid meteor shower will reach its peak this week, giving amateur skywatchers with clear dark skies a potentially dazzling celestial light show.

 

Luckily for those watching the skies, there will be a new moon, allowing for maximum darkness just when the Perseid meteor shower will be is at its best. The meteor shower's peak occurs during the overnight hours of Wednesday (Aug. 12) and Thursday (Aug. 13). No fancy equipment is required; just a lawn chair and your naked eyes will be enough to see the "shooting stars."

 

The Perseids are visible from all over the Northern Hemisphere. To have the best chance of seeing a meteor, pick a dark area (as far from bright city lights as possible) and face northeast. The meteors were appear to radiate out from the constellation Perseus, hence their name: Perseids."

 

http://news.yahoo.com/potentially-dazzling-perseid-meteor-shower-peaks-week-144846431.html

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http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/08/world/perseid-meteor-shower-2015/

 

When I was 6 years old (1966) my dad came home from work (late shift) at about 1 am one night and woke up the family.  We went outside to observe a spectacular meteor shower.  The sky appeared to be raining with meteors.  I swear one landed near our back yard (probably not of course).  The sky was very dark where we lived outside of Victoria, Texas (the nearest street light was 10 miles from us).  It was November, and the meteor shower was the Leonids.  I think that particular meteor shower has gained legendary status.  

 

You never know how these things will turn out.  I'll be watching this week (albeit from the incredibly light-polluted Dallas-Fort Worth metro area).

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Last years Leonids showers was the best meteor shower I had ever seen. I went out around 11:30 and there wasn't much going on, I went back about two hours later and it was amazing, one every couple seconds and sometimes more. It's all just a guess as far as how many will be seen, you never know. 

 

Have a new way of watching, a pole out behind the bar with 2 hooks, 2 ,more hooks on two of the back poles of the bar, it fits 2 hammocks perfectly kind of side by side (at one end). It's a very comfortable way to lay back and watch. We use to park a trailer close to the house and drag out blankets, it was not nearly as comfortable.  

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I just went to the store and bought some of those glow in the dark planet things that stick on the ceiling -- an empty paper towel roll makes a good telescope if you punch three holes in the right place. 

I’m sitting here reading Shakespeare and looking skyward.  Man, you should see Saturn -- it’s pretty cool.

Edited by BigStewMan
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