Perseids?

[skyoyster]

I've heard the Perseid shower is meant to be quite good this year, and I know it's quite hard to see from down here, but I'm wondering if there's any point at all in staying up and trying to see any meteors? I'm in Melbourne.

Cheers

[Liz]

Oooh, I dont think Melbourne will be very good, I rarely see them from where I live in North Qld .... but if you heard that is supposed to be a pretty good one, perhaps I need to check it out. ;)

[skyoyster]

The folks on AstronomyCast were talking about it, and while they're usually good with differentiating northern/southern hemisphere stuff, with this they didn't. They were suggesting 60 meteors/hour at peak, which would be quite something!

[RobF]

Generally with meteor showers the best viewing is early hours of the morning Alexandra - when your spot on the Earth is just starting to rotate into the direction that the Earth is moving in its orbit around the sun.

Its probably more a matter of getting up very early rather than staying up late. Will need a spot with good horizons, warm sleeping bag, and good company and hopefully might catch some periods of decent falls :)

[skyoyster]

I'm pretty good at staying up all night!

I was more wondering whether it's worth it at all - whether the Perseids are going to be visible - because I've had conflicting information about that.

[Liz]

I think the radiant (in Perseus) will be too far below horizon for you skyoyster??

Couple of threads on the Perseids -

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=48366

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=34168

http://www.meteorblog.com/2009/08/meteor-shower-the-perseids/

[skyoyster]

Thanks for that, Liz - that's pretty much what I expected, sadly. Have to hope that some of the other showers are good this year!!

[erick]

Leonids, around Nov 17, are our best hope from down here.

[skyoyster]

Thanks for the heads up!

[Stu Ward]

The Leonids in November according to Stellarium will also be pretty low in the sky to the East.
At around 3AM will be best, but still not great

Unless i have it totally wrong

Stu

[Liz]

I will certainly have a look at this shower, as Perseus does make it up over our horizon. ;) Best viewing is the 12th and 13th August fron about 3.30 to 5.30am. (per Ian Musgraves monthly page http://home.mira.net/~reynella/skywatch/ssky.htm )
Seems its source, Comet Swift-tuttle is a long way from Earth, so shouldnt be a large amount of meteors. :sadeyes:

[Liz]

Oh, and the radiant is at the southerly end of Perseus, to make it a bit worse, thus closer to horizon again.
Have marked the radiant area, as below Stellarium image.

[leon]

It's always worth having a go, you never know what may happen, so if you did not have a look you will have missed that and kick yourself later.

leon