Saturday, August 11, 2012

Perseids - A simple 'when-where-what'

Here's an easy-to-chew guide on 'observing' or watching the Perseids - one of the many annual meteor showers.
I shall try to keep the tech jargon out so it's just a 'when-where-what' pointer for beginners and people who just want to try to see some nice streaks of light in the sky! :)


When:
Most common prediction is that the shower will peak on the nights of Aug 11/12 (night of 11 through early hours on 12) and Aug 12/13.
The shower is 'always on' on these nights so basically whenever you get a good view of the apparent point of origin, the 'radiant', is a good time to observe!
That said, the constellation of Perseus (more in the 'where' part) will be up by just after midnight and at this time the radiant should be high enough to clear any city lights on the horizon/trees/building/other obstructions.
If the weather is decent (less/no clouds) and you have nothing better to do, you can stay up to watch the show right until dawn.

Note: Although the rise time for Perseus and the radiant will vary by location, if you are out by local midnight you should be able to spot the radiant at a decent height above the horizon, almost anywhere in the US. Just try to correlate the sky as shown in the section below.


Where:
A picture is worth blah blah blah... :) (click on pics to enlarge)


Identify the constellation of Perseus - use more familiar constellations like the Ursa Major or Cassiopeia.
The radiant of the shower is marked :) Most of the meteors should appear to originate from this point in the sky and go outwards.
As seen, this pic is for the sky around 12.30 am for West Lafayette - close to Chicago, for those who have never heard of our dear village!


A pic of the sky closer to dawn - the radiant is high up in the sky by this time and there are other nice objects like Jupiter and Venus that should be on either side of the crescent moon.

As for where to go, if you have a rooftop or any other place that is slightly higher than the surrounding buildings, great!
Else, just look for a good-sized open area (maybe on campus??) and lie on your back and enjoy the show!


What:
The meteors of course! :D
Keep your eyes sharp. The best way to catch meteors is to just keep looking in the general direction of the radiant. Most streaks will hardly last for half a second, so you can forget calling out and trying to point a meteor to your friend, or expect the same from the them :)


Lastly, try and count the meteors you see and shout out excitingly tomorrow morning!

For those at Purdue (anyone here??!!) and having nothing better to do and enthu to stay up the night, some company would be great!
I'm going to try to scout for some open place, mostly in the engineering fountain area.
So if anyone is going to be on campus tonight to try to observe, please call/text/mail/msg on fb.

Cheers and clear skies!

PS: Those who must not be spoken of, better stay the hell away from our skies for these few nights! They know who... those who ruin all the astro shows... every year... over and over again :D

PPS: To my dear friends back home - enjoy the monsoons instead! muhahaha :D


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