Select Page

I remember how pissed off I was last year for missing this.

Best strategy: Drive NORTH, away from City Lights, and park yourself in a field somewhere where you can kick back and watch the action. I’ve counted hundreds per hour in past years..

-Ian.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast31jul_1.htm

Anticipating the Perseids

The 2001 Perseid meteor shower peaks on August 12th. Will it be an extraordinary sky show like last year — or a moonlit disappointment? Wake up early and find out.

July 31, 2001: Summer nights and shooting stars. They’re an unbeatable combination. That’s why northern sky watchers look forward so to the annual Perseid meteor shower in August. During the shower’s peak, which happens this year on August 12th, dozens and sometimes hundreds of meteors shoot across the sky every hour. Dark-sky observers who stay out all night sometimes count more than a thousand!

The much-anticipated Perseids, as reliable as clockwork, rarely fail to please. Around this time last year, however, enthusiasts were bracing for something unusual: Perseid disappointment. On the night of the shower’s 2000 maximum, the Moon was to be nearly Full. It would outshine all but the brightest shooting stars.