There should be the one of the most dramatic meteor showers in the last 35 years early Sunday morning as the earth passes through the dust stream in the wake of the Comet Tempel-Tuttle. Info and pictures from earlier showers can be seen here. I, for one, plan to be up early Sunday (5am-ish) to grab a seat and watch the fireworks.
Anyone else going to brave the weather and look to the heavens for Mother Nature’s lightshow? It should be visible even in light-polluted areas.
Will this be visible all over the globe or best in certain spots? If so where?
This (along with the Northern lights) has been a dream of mine for years, but I’ve never known when it is!!
Gp (setting alarm now)
I’m setting the alarm clock for 4:00AM Sunday morning, AZ time. If there is no cloud cover it should be a great show.
The missus and I were just discussing this a.m. what time to set the alarm.
I’ll be thinking of you other geeks also freezing your butts off.
I’ll be up at 4 CST Sunday morning. Thanks for the link!
My Perfect Child[sup]TM[/sup] is an astronomy fiend - I expect we’ll be up and watching. Just hope the ambient light isn’t too bad here. We may have to drive down the road a bit.
Try this link for tips on when and where to look:
http://www.spaceweather.com/meteors/leonids/observingtips.html
Here’s hoping for clear weather!
I sat on a cliff edge out in the country back in '92 and watched (actually near Crawford) and it was spectacular.
I’ve heard the viewing won’t be as good in N.A. and Europe but I don’t have a cite (or site) for that. Not that it won’t still be well worth the obscene hour.
Wait. I thought that I could catch it a little after 1 a.m. Do I have to wait until FOUR? I can’t do it. I’m a wuss. I’ll be asleep.
My family goes camping in the Adirondacks in August every year, crystal clear sky, and we always gather down on the beach with our sleeping bags to watch the Persius (Sp?) meteor shower. It’s the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen. Beautiful.
Also, star gazers, on New Year’s Eve this year, minutes after midnight, jupiter will be at it’s closest, brightest point in the sky, so close that a very crude telescope will be able to see it’s moons! It will be directly over head at midnight…IN EACH TIME ZONE.
Freaky!
jar
Persid? Agreed!
Why does it not surprise me that jarbabyj would advocate using a “very crude” telescope? 
I would have (mis?) spelled it Perseid. We always time an August vacation to Michigan to see them.
To bad so much astronomy takes place so late at night!
coding fixed
[Edited by UncleBeer on 11-15-2001 at 05:59 PM]
Try this link to check when the best viewing times are in your area (United States only…it’s a PDF file so you need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view it).
While it looks as if you can see some stuff all night the best viewing times (in Chicago at least) looks to be from 3-5 a.m… You’ll have to check for your area.
If you are outside the US this link gives info.
Well, now I’m confused. Not that that’s a rarity.
I find references to “Persid”, “Perseid” and “Persius”, each in respectable publications and by knowing groups.
IANAA but it would appear that the Perseid or Persid Meteor Shower seems to originate from the constellation Persius, hence the name.
Anyway, we know what you’re talking about and couldn’t agree more.
It’ll be on from 7 to 8:30 pm here, if the skies are clear. Neener neener.
Lemme explain something about New York City.
Lights.
The lights never go out at night.
This is not conducive to star/meteor shower gazing.
No problem, right? We have parks!
Wait. All parks in NY close at sunset.
My reponse: <censored>
jarbabyj, you can see some of the moons of Jupiter with a pair of good binoculars on an average day.
You have to have a really steady hand or put them on a tripod, but it can be done.
I did this before my brother and I built my telescope (it’s a 6" Newtonian reflector for all you geeks out there)
You can also see the Orion Nebula with a pair of binocs as well. Again, you need to be steady. You’ll only see a little blur, but I still thought it was excellent.
From NASA:
For those lucky enough to be observing from eastern Australia or eastern Asia some eight hours later, the rates could be ten times higher.
See you out at South Head, Sydney.
You got it. “Persid,” however, is probably a typo.
looking for a good spot on LI to watch