Spectacular Meteor Shower and Rare Planet Alignment Coincide

[babsbunny]

http://www.space.com/spacewatch/perseid-meteor-shower-planet-alignment-100812.html

Spectacular Meteor Shower and Rare Planet Alignment Coincide
By Robert Roy Britt
Editor in Chief
posted: 12 August 2010
07:40 am ET

Update Aug. 12, 4:15 p.m. ET: The International Meteor Organization reports that hourly rate for Perseid meteors has climbed from the low 20s Tuesday into the 30s on Wednesday and now into the 40s. This represents the number of meteors observable per under perfectly dark skies. While the typical person's actual observation will be lower, the rising rate — fully expected — indicates the peak tonight and Friday morning will indeed be worth viewing, as predicted. — RRB

[old mark]

1. Unfortunately for me, the event also coincided with several days of rainy, humid weather

leaving the night sky looking like soup.

mark

[Bitwit1234]

6. Yep that never fails..good clear weather, some celestial show and

we have rain and clouds here.

[Scurrilous]

2. K & R

:thumbsup:

[SpiralHawk]

3. Planet 'alignment' must be Mars-Venus conjunction...

perfecting on the 20th, I think...

?w=300

[G_j]

4. more:

Meanwhile, Venus, Mars and Saturn are clustered in the evening sky and will be joined tonight and Friday by the graceful crescent moon. Anyone with clear skies can easily spot the foursome looming above the western horizon as soon as darkness falls. It's a great opportunity, using SPACE.com's planet alignment map, to find and identify planets you otherwise might mistake for stars.

But wait, there's more. In the predawn all week, Jupiter is a brilliant jewel high in the southern sky and impossible to miss — nothing nearby is even close to being as bright.

[snagglepuss]

5. I must have seen Jupiter the other night but didn't know what it was.

I had no idea Jupiter could ever be seen by the naked eye.

[sarge43]

7. All the planets out to Saturn can be seen by the naked eye.

However, need excellent eyesight, perfect viewing conditions and know exactly where and when to look. The usual suspects are Venus, Mars and Jupiter. Saturn can be seen under very good conditions; Mercury very difficult because it's so close to the Sun.

[Omar4Dems]

8. Next to the moon and Venus,

Jupiter is the brightest natural object in the night sky. (Except for unusually bright meteors or comets, of course.)

Just with an ordinary pair of binoculars, you can see Jupiter's cloud bands, and up to four of its moons.

[snagglepuss]

9. Live and learn. Thanks and welcome to DU.

:hi:

[Omar4Dems]

10. Cool, thanks!

:hi:

Another tip: around September 14 (give or take a couple of days), point your binoculars at Jupiter (it'll be in the east to southeast sky at mid-evening). You'll see a faint, aqua-colored dot right above Jupiter. That's planet Uranus (you can't see Uranus without binoculars or a telescope).

[Massacure]

11. That article has an error in it.

If you go to the link and read down you come across a passage

"Rates of around 20 per hour (3 per minute) were already being noted early Tuesday"

Three per minute is actually 180 per hour.

[Catshrink]

12. This link will show you when a meteor shower will be visible for you

It was on a DU thread a couple of days ago:

http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/estimator.html

[northernlights]

14. cool...thank you

hopefully I'll wake up in time. 2 nights ago was solid clouds. This morning I woke up at 1:30 when my bedroom got too hot -- looked out the window while opening it and saw...nothing...went back to bed.

I didn't see Maine listed, but if I read the chart correctly Boston's upcoming peak is 4:34 tomorrow am and Quebec's is 4:something am -- so I guess between 4am and 4:30am will be the peak here. Hopefully it will be clear and I'll wake up early :D :thumbsup:

[jimlup]

13. Ah Darn!

I was too tired to go out last night.