Perseid Meteor Shower This Weekend Could Be Good.

[chattanova]

Peak expected to be Sunday night to early Monday/ 1 AM EDT / 10 PM Pacific


http://img29.picoodle.com/img/img29/9/8/11/f_Perseid2004m_76b7785.jpg
Perseid meteor in Hercules, photographed on August 11, 2004,
by Bart Veltman, Oud-Zevenaar, The Netherlands.


New Moon Sunday, so no bright moonshine to dim sky. The dust and rocks left by the last Comet Swift-Tuttle fly-by in December 1992 could reach 60 to 100 meteors per hour. "This is about as ideal as you can get," reports Alan M. MacRobert, Senior Editor, Sky & Telescope.

[them]

http://k43.pbase.com/o4/97/295097/1/65400425.aq3ma6lk.mImg_6467.jpg
http://www.astronomy.net/graphics/constellations/perseus.gif

الغول al-ghūl

The most famous eclipsing binary star is visible to the naked eye.
Winking Demons

In the constellation Perseus there is a moderately bright star called Algol. It is remarkable in that every 68.75 hours its light dims rather suddenly for several hours before returning just as quickly to its former brightness. This change in brightness is sufficiently large to be apparent even to the naked eye. Very careful observation also indicates a small dip in light output halfway in between the large dips, and detailed inspection of the spectrum indicates that Algol is a spectroscopic binary. ( Additional evidence indicates that Algol is actually a triple star system, but two of the stars are very close together. It is these two stars that concern us here.)

Algol is called the Winking Demon Star because of its light variation and because Perseus is according to mythology holding the severed head of the Gorgon or demon.

http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/binaries/eclipsing/algolmov.gif

http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/binaries/algol.html

[them]

A very satisfying display, last night.

http://www.nightskyhunter.com/images/Perseid%20Meteor%201.jpg

[chattanova]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20187093/

[them]

http://nummynims.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/mr-bump.jpg?w=500

PERSEID METEOR SHOWER: Earth is entering the debris stream of comet Swift-Tuttle and this is causing the annual Perseid meteor shower. According to the International Meteor Organization, observers are now counting as many as 25 meteors per hour during the dark hours before dawn. For Tamas Ladanyi of Taliandorogd, Hungary, just one was plenty:

http://spaceweather.com/meteors/perseids/images2010/10aug10/Tamas-Ladanyi1.jpg?PHPSESSID=msoaah2olbbsovu3cgtrk4vfv4 (http://spaceweather.com/)

"This bright Perseid flying over the ruins of St. Andrew church made my evening," says Ladanyi. "It was so beautiful alongside Jupiter and the Milky Way."

The best is yet to come. Earth is approaching the heart of the debris stream, causing meteor rates to increase rapidly. On peak-night, Thursday, August 12th, observers could count as many as 100 Perseids per hour. It's such a good show, even the planets (http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/05aug_perseids/) are gathering to watch. Shouldn't you, too?