The Perseid meteor shower is coming up late this week, but this year the full Moon will wash out all but the brightest meteors, according to the editors of StarDate magazine.
Though the shower technically peaks at about 1 a.m. CDT on Saturday, August 13, prime viewing time begins when the constellation Perseus rises into fine view in the northeast around midnight on Friday, August 12. The full Moon will rise in early evening Friday and will be directly overhead after midnight, coinciding exactly with the predicted time of the shower’s peak intensity. The Moon’s brilliant light will overpower most of the meteors.
Perseid meteors appear to fall from the constellation Perseus, but they are not associated with it. The meteors are actually leftover debris from comet Swift-Tuttle. The Perseid meteors recur each year when Earth passes through its debris trail.
If you’d like to try to watch this year’s Perseids, get away from city lights. Look for state or city parks or other safe, dark sites. Lie on a blanket or reclining chair to get a full-sky view. If you can see all of the stars in the Little Dipper, you have good dark-adapted vision.
Published bi-monthly by The University of Texas at Austin McDonald Observatory, StarDate magazine provides readers with skywatching tips, skymaps, beautiful astronomical photos, astronomy news and features, and a 32-page Sky Almanac each January.
Established in 1932, The University of Texas at Austin McDonald Observatory near Fort Davis, Texas, hosts multiple telescopes undertaking a wide range of astronomical research under the darkest night skies of any professional observatory in the continental United States. McDonald is home to the consortium-run Hobby-Eberly Telescope, one of the world’s largest, which will soon be upgraded to begin the HET Dark Energy Experiment. An internationally known leader in astronomy education and outreach, McDonald Observatory is also pioneering the next generation of astronomical research as a founding partner of the Giant Magellan Telescope.
http://stardate.org/mediacenter/201108-full-moon-will-wash-out-perseid-meteor-shower-friday
