Thursday, August 12, 2010

Meteor shower August 2010: how you can get the best view - CSMonitor.com

Meteor shower August 2010: how you can get the best view - CSMonitor.com

Meteor shower August 2010: how you can get the best view


Meteor shower August 2010 peak comes early Friday. Emanating from the constellation Perseid, the meteor shower could yield sightings in some locations of up to 75 meteors an hour.

The Perseid Meteor Shower viewed from the Laguna Mountains in San Diego County in California on August, 12, 2004. The meteor shower is caused as the Earth enters a debris field left over from the Comet Swift-Tuttle that occurred in 1862. The comet gets its name from the constellation Perseus since the meteors usually radiate from that location in the sky.
Newscom

The annual Perseid meteor shower, one of the finest shows in August's night sky, is set to dazzle the bleary-eyed in the wee hours of Friday.
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If you live under very dark skies or can travel beyond the sky glow of urban America, you can expect to see up to 75 meteors an hour, astronomers suggest. If you're hardy enough to be on a mountaintop, the number could reach 108 meteors an hour.
The best viewing locations will be in the Northern Hemisphere, with Southern Hemisphere sky-watchers limited to perhaps 30 or 40 events an hour at the shower's peak.

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