2012 Perseid Meteor Shower to Dazzle this Weekend

Don't forget to look up Saturday night.

The Perseid meteor shower takes place primarily Aug. 11 through Sunday morning Aug. 12, and according to NASA, stargazers could see upward of 100 meteorites flash before them per hour.

"I recommend viewing the shower with someone with whom you enjoy spending time in the dark," quipped Andrew Fraknoi, Chairman of Foothill College's Astronomy Department, from his "Astro Prof" Facebook fan page.

"If you are patient, allow your eyes to get adapted to the dark, and find a spot where you have a good view of the whole sky, you should be rewarded—over time—with a good number of chunks of cosmic material burning up in our planet's atmosphere," Fraknoi wrote.

According to Astronomy.com, the Perseid Meteor shower has some added bonuses this year: it will occur on a night when the moon is in its waning crescent phase, which means the moonlight will interfere only slightly with your view of the meteors, and it's on a Saturday night, which means people can stay up late and sleep in the next day.

You don't even need a telescope. Just spread out a blanket, maybe a late-night picnic, lay back and enjoy!  

The Night Sky Network has a downloadable handout, 'Heads Up, I'ts a Meteor Shower!' that contains helpful information. Fraknoi also recommends a piece from Sky & Telescope magazine.

Perseid Meteor Trivia:

• Mankind has looked up at the Perseids for nearly 2,000 years
• Perseids is pronounced, "Purr-see-ud"
• The Perseids are remnants of the Swift-Tuttle comet, which orbits the sun every 133 years.
• These bits of comet "ice and dust" are more than 1,000 years old
• These meteors travel 37 miles per second
• The Perseids can be seen all over the sky, but the best viewing opportunities will be across the northern hemisphere.
• Those with sharp eyes will see that the meteors radiate from the direction of the constellation Perseus, which forms an inverted "Y" shape and is in the northeast.
• Some of the meteorites are as small as a grain of sand, but they have the kinetic energy of a nuclear bomb!
• If you see a very slow, bright object sailing across the sky, it's either a satellite or a Space Station.   

Where and how to view:

• The best time to view will be 2 a.m. on Aug. 12.
• The weather, so far, is predicted to be clear, so you should have a good view.
• Avoid city lights. The further you get from town, the better your view will be.
• Join the NASA's Live Video/Audio Feed by clicking here. NASA will live stream the meteor shower as seen from atop the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Hunstville AL. Also experts will be online available to answer questions between 8 p.m. PDT and midnight.

If you shoot a great photo of the shower, upload the image here!

Don't miss a thing in Los Altos!

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