Anyone watching the perseids?

[Ajax (Rich)]

I saw an article about this meteor shower being twice as spectacular this year and wanted to spend a little time star gazing with a special sometime next week during the "peak". Problem is I've never ventured out to any sites and have no idea what to expect from them.

I've done a lot of reading these past few days and I know there will be plenty of weather variables that might affect this plan but a good viewing site is my biggest problem so far. I live in Sydney and don't have time for camp outs. I was hoping to do a 2am viewing for a short while so it's important I get the spot right!

I drove out to Bucketty to the observatory last night for a test run but was met with a nice but slightly agitated lady who didn't appear to be pleased I had driven up her driveway (seems it was shared I think but now the observatory is not accessible anymore?).

So I'm struggling with what to do. I understand being in Sydney our view will greatly limit how many meteors are seen but I also read we should be able to see 20 per hour in ideal conditions which I think is fine.

Hoping someone can steer me in the right direction here. I'm open to other suggestions that don't involve this particular event but would be equally as special if not more so? Mind you I don't have any equipment, just the bare eyes :/

[Allan_L (Allan)]

Hi Rich,
Further to our earlier communication, this shower is mainly Northern Hemisphere:

While this summer spectacular appears to radiate from a constellation, they are actually caused by the Earth passing through the dust particles of the comet Swift-Tuttle. Each summer, Earth passes into a trail of dust left by this comet, and as a result, all the dust and debris burning up in our atmosphere, travelling at a very fast 132,000 miles per second (59 km/s), produces the spectacle known as the Perseids meteor shower, or what are popularly recognized as “shooting stars”. There's no danger to sky watchers, though. The fragile grains disintegrate long before they reach the ground.

While the meteors are certainly bright, they are typically not much larger than a grain of sand. However, as they travel at immense speeds, these tiny particles put on an impressive show.

Due to the way the comet’s orbit is tilted, dust from the Swift-Tuttle falls on Earth’s northern hemisphere. Unfortunately, this leads to extremely low visibility for those in Australia, New Zealand, and portions of South America.

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Extract from:
http://www.spacedex.com/perseids/

[Ajax (Rich)]

Thanks. Initially I was excited about the event but quickly found out we wouldn't see much in Sydney but I was given some hope from someone answering emails at the ASNSW who said we should still be able to see 20 per hour. I think taking someone out to star gaze and seeing 20 meteors in that time makes for a pretty memorable night

[AussieTrooper (Ben)]

If you want to impress someone with a meteor shower, watch the Geminids. It's far enough south to get a good view, and has a high rate. You'll usually see one ever two minutes or so.

[AEAJR (Ed)]

Thursday and Friday were all clouds in New York, so all attempts to view the meteor shower were thwarted.

Friday evening, around midnight, the clouds were still in evidence. However, around 3:30 AM I received a call from nature to go visit the little boys room. I answer, then headed outside to see if the clouds had cleared. the sky was about 80% clear so I set up a lounge chair in as shielded a spot as I could find that faced toward the NE. Unfortunately I also have tall treas in that direction so part of the stage for the show was blocked from my view.

Over the next hour I saw about 15 streaks and maybe another 15 little spot flairs. During my hour of observation I also saw 6 satellites cross before me.

If my skies were darker I might have seen more but in this "dark white" zone the sky is a medium blue gray so a lot could be happening that I can't see.

But at least I can say I saw some of the shower. [​IMG]

One good side benefit was that the Pleiades was high in the sky. I had my 7X35s with me so I enjoyed seeing this wonder and scanned the rest of the sky too. These 7X35s, sporting an 8 degree FOV presents a broader context than my 10X50s.

All in all, not bad for a bathroom call in the middle of the night. By 5 am I was back in bed dreaming of the wonders of the cosmos.

[Pearl (Donna)]

I'm a newbie. Sorry if I might seem ignorant. I like to moon and star gaze. I'm yet to buy a telescope but I do zoom in with my Canon CoolPix P530 and try and get shots. However, Saturday night 13th August around 10pm and I'd been watching since 8.30 pm as recommended we (there were eight adults) started seeing streaks of light shooting from west to east (I unfortunately did not have my camera). They would stop and start up again, some brighter and thicker than others. Mostly in the same directions, some seemed a little higher. I believed I was seeing the meteor shower (I certainly hope I did). Then one skeptic (an electrician) said, 'Nah, it's strobe lights'. But the sky was too random, too much like nature and the night was full of stars. What do you all think?
I live on the Gold Coast, just south of Brisbane so not supposedly the ideal place to see it. Did we just get lucky and see shoot offs and be in the right spot, or was it stupid strobe lights? Maybe other phenomenon?
Other factors were: we were standing around a camp fire, a swimming pool is nearby (could cause reflection of particles, perhaps). Just a suburb, not built up and full of lights. Any ideas? I've been researching and no one seems to know and we seem to be the only group looking up and seeing it. Thanks and sorry to be long-winded.