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« on: August 11, 2012, 09:35:41 AM » |
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Perseid meteors: Skygazers hope for spectacular showThe annual Perseid meteors are set to put on a spectacular sky show this weekend.
Glare from a waning crescent moon may interfere with viewing.
But the Perseids remain one of the most popular events in the astronomical calendar, with meteor rates expected to reach as many as 100 per hour.
The Perseids are actually pieces of Comet Swift-Tuttle; each year in August, the Earth passes through a cloud of the comet's debris.
These tiny pieces of ice and dust (which range from the size of a grain of sand to around as big as a pea) hit the Earth's atmosphere at some 60km/s (134,000 mph).
"December's Geminids often outperform them by a bit," said Alan MacRobert, a senior editor of Sky and Telescope magazine, "but the Perseids are probably the most-watched meteor shower, because they come in the warm vacation season."
The Perseids can be seen all over the sky, but the best viewing opportunities will be across the northern hemisphere.
From the UK, the best time to see the Perseid shower is likely to be on the morning of 12 August before dawn, when as many as 60 meteors an hour may be visible. Despite the Moon, this year's prospects for viewing are relatively good.
Their name comes from the fact that meteors in this shower radiate from the direction of the constellation Perseus.
The Earth passed particularly close to Comet Swift-Tuttle in 1992, when the Perseids put on a spectacular display.
The meteor shower has since returned to normal. The comet will not approach so close again until around 2125.
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"Something is true because it matches reality, not because some well-regarded person said it." - The Black Jester.
"Don't let someone else's bullshit ruin your day." - Will
"quoting the Bible doesn't convince atheists, as the Bible is not a holy book to us." - fester30
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OldGit
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« Reply #1 on: August 11, 2012, 09:37:53 AM » |
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Past my bedtime, but I'll ask Nursie if she'll wake me up.
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DeterminedJuliet
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whaddya at, b'y?
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« Reply #2 on: August 11, 2012, 09:41:52 AM » |
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Of course, the one freakin' day this entire summer that Ottawa is overcast.  |
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"We’ve thought of life by analogy with a journey, with pilgrimage which had a serious purpose at the end, and the THING was to get to that end; success, or whatever it is, or maybe heaven after you’re dead. But, we missed the point the whole way along; It was a musical thing and you were supposed to sing, or dance, while the music was being played." - Alan Watts
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McQ
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« Reply #3 on: August 11, 2012, 05:15:46 PM » |
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Cloudy. Always fucking cloudy here. Mother puss bucket shit for nothing meteor showers that never show the fuck up!
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Elvis didn't do no drugs!
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DeterminedJuliet
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whaddya at, b'y?
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« Reply #4 on: August 11, 2012, 05:21:45 PM » |
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Hahaha, McQ is fun when he curses.  |
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"We’ve thought of life by analogy with a journey, with pilgrimage which had a serious purpose at the end, and the THING was to get to that end; success, or whatever it is, or maybe heaven after you’re dead. But, we missed the point the whole way along; It was a musical thing and you were supposed to sing, or dance, while the music was being played." - Alan Watts
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McQ
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« Reply #5 on: August 11, 2012, 05:32:13 PM » |
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Elvis didn't do no drugs!
--Penn Jillette
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BooksCatsEtc
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« Reply #6 on: August 11, 2012, 08:59:38 PM » |
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Cloudy. Always fucking cloudy here. Mother puss bucket shit for nothing meteor showers that never show the fuck up!
And if it isn't cloudy there's the light pollution. I simply must move out of the city. |
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Sandy  There is science, logic, reason; there is thought verified by experience. And then there is California. Edward Abbey |
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Budhorse4
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« Reply #7 on: August 11, 2012, 09:14:34 PM » |
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Oh. My. God. This is so amazing! They are so bright! One left a trail that lasted five minutes! We all have hot chocolate and chairs set up in the horse pasture. No trees and no light.  |
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Wait, what?
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The Magic Pudding
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« Reply #8 on: August 11, 2012, 11:11:42 PM » |
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Oh. My. God. This is so amazing! They are so bright! One left a trail that lasted five minutes! We all have hot chocolate and chairs set up in the horse pasture. No trees and no light. Watch your step. Perseus looks like a Clown. Perseus should be known as Clown. Any meteors should be referred to as clownish. |
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Tank
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« Reply #9 on: August 12, 2012, 01:01:49 AM » |
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Oh. My. God. This is so amazing! They are so bright! One left a trail that lasted five minutes! We all have hot chocolate and chairs set up in the horse pasture. No trees and no light. I hate you |
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"Something is true because it matches reality, not because some well-regarded person said it." - The Black Jester.
"Don't let someone else's bullshit ruin your day." - Will
"quoting the Bible doesn't convince atheists, as the Bible is not a holy book to us." - fester30
"argh, gotta paint my horns now that they're sanded" - Sweetdeath
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OldGit
Ich em alder thene ich wes awintre and ech a lare
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« Reply #10 on: August 12, 2012, 01:19:59 AM » |
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^ Me, too. It was cloudy and we never saw a single one. And the forecast for tonight is the same.
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Touched by His Noodly Appendage.
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DeterminedJuliet
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whaddya at, b'y?
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« Reply #11 on: August 12, 2012, 04:32:22 AM » |
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Oh. My. God. This is so amazing! They are so bright! One left a trail that lasted five minutes! We all have hot chocolate and chairs set up in the horse pasture. No trees and no light. I hate you Ditto |
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"We’ve thought of life by analogy with a journey, with pilgrimage which had a serious purpose at the end, and the THING was to get to that end; success, or whatever it is, or maybe heaven after you’re dead. But, we missed the point the whole way along; It was a musical thing and you were supposed to sing, or dance, while the music was being played." - Alan Watts
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MariaEvri
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« Reply #12 on: August 13, 2012, 04:19:39 AM » |
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watch them every year! Also the geminids and leonids make quite a show too
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