I am about to head out of town for the weekend, thought I would drop a note in case anyone else was interested but did not know about the Perseids meteor shower this weekend.
Saturday August 11th is Perseids meteor shower peak weekend for 2012. It should peak between midnight and 4am. It also looks like a thumbnail waning crescent moon, that doesn’t rise until 1am or so, which is also excellent news as that sliver of moon will not light up the sky and distract from the meteor shower.
If you have them, use red lights (does not effect night vision) (red saran wrap works), and have a nighttime picnic and watch the north east sky for the meteor shower. Go somewhere dark away from city lights and take your families if they have never seen one. Look to the northeast, depending on conditions you may see between 10 and 20 per hour or as much as 70 to 100 per hour.
You can get more specific location information here for your state or even just generic info as well.
Even if you miss the meteors, have a great weekend and drink a cold one for me!
tonight it was difficult to see through all the red glow of what were HUGE flames
to the east of us. The entire sky (overcast) was an eerie red we are still burnin up
out here in the west …brutal drought
Awesome shot, Carl. I’m setting my alarm to get up at 4 AM tomorrow AM with my two boys , 9 and 14. It was over cast last night/early this morning. Hoping for clear skies today/tonight/tomorrow AM.
