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August 2009: It’s Meteor Shower Time!

Posted 33 months ago|7 comments|2,723 views
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Tina W
Portland, OR
Sweet! I know what I’m doing tonight! Headed out of town to watch the August 2009 meteor shower – it’s a free show in the sky!

OK, here’s the breakdown. The Perseid meteor shower will be filling the night sky and tonight and tomorrow night will be the very best time to watch them.

Why is the August 2009 meteor shower big news? Because it’s one of the brightest meteor showers in recent memory – there will be hundreds and hundreds of meteors burning up in the sky tonight.

You know what meteors are, right? They’re basically pieces of rocks that broke off of a comet or a big meteorite thousands and thousands of years ago, and the earth is going to be passing through a huge cloud of them all month long. They hit the atmosphere and burn up, giving us earthlings a great view: a meteor shower.

FYI, the best times to watch the meteor shower will be between 3-5 a.m., so you might want to take an evening nap before you get up for the festivities. The moon will be blocking our August 2009 meteor shower from about 11 p.m. to 2 a.m., so there won’t be a lot to see. Stay up late for the big guns.

Last thing: don’t expect to see the meteor shower if you are in a big city (because of city lights, duh) or if it’s raining. So pray against rain, take a shower, and wait for the meteors!
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COMMENTS
YammeringBuoy
YammeringBuoy
33 months ago: Yeeeeessss it IS!

Seems tho' rain has moved in last minute, but as they say, wait 5 minutes.

I get to just walk into the backyard with the kids, eyup they love being woken up for these events. My kids rock! >sniff< :)
YammeringBuoy
YammeringBuoy
33 months ago: Also, for those of you with cloud cover OR city lights, if you turn your FM dial all the way to the low end, towards the 88, you can "listen" to the meteors as they enter the atmosphere. What your listening for is a brief or quick radio station to go by in a blip. This happens as a result of the ion trail (burning up part) left by the meteoroid, which is what it is BEFORE it hits the ground, bouncing the captured signal to you by redirecting it for a split second or two.
Ok, I'm done now. :)
Happy trails!
33 months ago: I had the opportunity to watch this once when I was about 15 years old. Since then, I have either lived in a city, or it has been raining...this year, rain for both nights. :(
33 months ago: Good post, will remind the grandkids, unfortunately school is about to start and they will probably be confined to their school time sleeping schedule.

Like you YB, I too just have to walk outside, now if I could just convince a couple neighbors down the road to get rid of those stupid night lights........
YammeringBuoy
YammeringBuoy
33 months ago: Stoopit lights!
33 months ago: You can't walk out your back door and look up?
33 months ago: I can, but I better move around a bit, too many trees! Nearest night light is 300 yards or so away to the west, still causes reduced viewing. Could go south to the hay field and avoid all the light though, only about 1/8 mile to there. One reason why I can't put my solar stuff on the roof, too much shade so will have to mount it all away from the house when I get to that point.

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