Perseids: Peak Tonight

August 11, 2005 10:29 AM

It's time again for the best meteor shower of the year: The Perseids!   Also known as the Tears of St. Lawrence I did not know that. NASA's page has a nice star chart. Here is a gallery of shots from the 2004 shower, a BBC gallery, and tips for photographing meteors. Cloudy where you are? Don't despair: LISTEN to the meteor shower!
posted by spock (13 comments total)

Your tips for photographing points to Metafilter. Otherwise, I'll be looking forward to maybe seeing some of these the next couple of nights.
posted by Eekacat at 10:46 AM on August 11, 2005

Artist "Olaf Nicolai's Welcome to the Tears of St. Lawrence 'registers on many levels: ranging from mass media to the contemplation of art, from astronomy to the [Venice] Biennale [Exhibition of Modern Art], from science to superstition, the universal to the individual.'

But Nicolai's art exhibit isn't limited in time and space! He's tried to transcend both, by making his materials available in many locales and in many formats. Mixing science, art, literature, poetry and popular culture, he's produced a free handy little booklet to the Perseids, which is also available here.

In it, you can find directions on how to look for them, as well as the best viewing times for hundreds of locations throughout the world, plus a fun sample of lore about falling stars. In the booklet, there was even a postcard, like this form, included so that you could send the "Fireball Data Center" at the International Meteor Organization your observations, in the end making "Welcome to the Tears of Saint Lawrence" a collaborative and interactive scientific experiment/artwork!"
posted by Misciel at 11:00 AM on August 11, 2005

Corrected photographing meteor tips link.
posted by spock at 11:49 AM on August 11, 2005

Every year on my birthday, I watch the Perseids as a part of the event. Pretty cool phenomenon as a freebie birthday gift, eh?
posted by Oyéah at 12:34 PM on August 11, 2005

Fixed your "tips" link. Thanks for posting this I've been reading Perseid pages all day long.
posted by jessamyn at 12:43 PM on August 11, 2005

Went outside the city to see November's Leonids a few years ago, and they were spectacular. Meteor showers always remind me of Day of The Triffids, though.
posted by cenoxo at 12:50 PM on August 11, 2005

great post, thanks!
posted by .kobayashi. at 2:50 PM on August 11, 2005

I just saw Deep Impact. Man, that movie sucked. But the real thing is cool.
posted by bardic at 5:08 PM on August 11, 2005

Seems like a bad time to be on the space station.
posted by Ron at 6:15 PM on August 11, 2005

It's been cloudy here... 8=(
posted by Balisong at 7:15 PM on August 11, 2005

Thanks for the post, spock.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:22 PM on August 11, 2005

Just spent about 1/2 hour outside and saw around 5, and it's nowhere near peak time. I set my alarm for 4am for more. Get out there if you can!
posted by moonbird at 10:37 PM on August 11, 2005

Thanks for posting this; gave me a great idea for something to take a special someone to tonight.
posted by ElfWord at 7:23 PM on August 12, 2005