Comments on: Perseids: Peak Tonight

Perseids: Peak Tonight

spock — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 10:29:14 -0800

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!

By: Eekacat

Eekacat — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 10:46:31 -0800

Your tips for photographing points to Metafilter. Otherwise, I'll be looking forward to maybe seeing some of these the next couple of nights.

By: Misciel

Misciel — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 11:00:15 -0800

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!"

By: spock

spock — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 11:49:09 -0800

Corrected photographing meteor tips link.

By: Oyéah

Oyéah — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 12:34:16 -0800

Every year on my birthday, I watch the Perseids as a part of the event. Pretty cool phenomenon as a freebie birthday gift, eh?

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 12:43:59 -0800

Fixed your "tips" link. Thanks for posting this I've been reading Perseid pages all day long.

By: cenoxo

cenoxo — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 12:50:15 -0800

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.

By: .kobayashi.

.kobayashi. — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 14:50:00 -0800

great post, thanks!

By: bardic

bardic — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 17:08:32 -0800

I just saw Deep Impact. Man, that movie sucked. But the real thing is cool.

By: Ron

Ron — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 18:15:11 -0800

Seems like a bad time to be on the space station.

By: Balisong

Balisong — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 19:15:45 -0800

It's been cloudy here... 8=(

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 21:22:05 -0800

Thanks for the post, spock.

By: moonbird

moonbird — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 22:37:35 -0800

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!

By: ElfWord

ElfWord — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 19:23:55 -0800

Thanks for posting this; gave me a great idea for something to take a special someone to tonight.