> -----Original Message-----
> From: mpml@yahoogroups.com [mailto:mpml@yahoogroups.com] On
> Behalf Of Ron Baalke
> Sent: Monday, July 16, 2007 1:48 PM
> To: Minor Planet Mailing List
> Subject: {MPML} Great Perseids
>
>
> http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/11jul_greatperseids.htm
>
> Great Perseids
> NASA Science News
> July 11, 2007
>
> July 11, 2007: Got a calendar? Circle this date: Sunday, August 12th.
> Next to the circle write "all night" and "Meteors!" Attach
> the above to
> your refrigerator in plain view so you won't miss the 2007 Perseid
> meteor shower.
>
> "It's going to be a great show," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid
> Environment Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center. "The
> Moon is new
> on August 12th--which means no moonlight, dark skies and plenty of
> meteors." How many? Cooke estimates one or two Perseids per minute at
> the shower's peak.
>
> The source of the shower is Comet Swift-Tuttle. Although the comet is
> nowhere near Earth, the comet's tail does intersect Earth's orbit. We
> glide through it every year in August. Tiny bits of comet dust hit
> Earth's atmosphere traveling 132,000 mph. At that speed, even
> a smidgen
> of dust makes a vivid streak of light--a meteor--when it
> disintegrates.
> Because Swift-Tuttle's meteors fly out of the constellation Perseus,
> they are called "Perseids."
>
> Note: In the narrative that follows, all times are local. For
> instance,
> 9:00 pm means 9:00 pm in your time zone, where you live.
>
> The show begins between 9:00 and 10:00 pm on Sunday, August 12th, when
> Perseus rises in the northeast. This is the time to look for Perseid
> Earthgrazers--meteors that approach from the horizon and skim the
> atmosphere overhead like a stone skipping the surface of a pond.
>
> "Earthgrazers are long, slow and colorful; they are among the most
> beautiful of meteors," says Cooke. He cautions that an hour
> of watching
> may net only a few of these--"at most"--but seeing even one makes the
> long night worthwhile.
>
> As the night unfolds, Perseus climbs higher and the meteor rate will
> increase many-fold. "By 2 am on Monday morning, August 13th, dozens of
> Perseids may be flitting across the sky every hour." The
> crescendo comes
> before dawn when rates could exceed a meteor a minute.
>
> For maximum effect, Cooke advises, "get away from city lights." The
> brightest Perseids can be seen from cities, he allows, but the greater
> flurry of faint, delicate meteors is visible only from the
> countryside.
> Scouts, this is a good time to go camping.
>
> And there's a bonus: Mars. In the constellation Taurus, just below
> Perseus, Mars shines like a bright red star. Many of the Perseids you
> see on August 12th and 13th will flit right past it. Instead of
> following the meteor, you may find you have a hard time
> taking your eyes
> off Mars. There's something bewitching about it, maybe the
> red color or
> perhaps the fact that it doesn't twinkle like a true star.
> You stare at
> Mars and it stares right back.
>
> Earth and Mars are converging for a close encounter in December 2007.
> NASA is taking advantage by launching a new mission to
> Mars--the Phoenix
> Lander
> Phoenix will touch down on an arctic plain where it can dig into the
> ground and investigate layers of soil and ice, searching for, among
> other things, a habitable zone for primitive microbes. The
> launch window
> opens on August 3rd, so by the time the Perseids arrive Phoenix may be
> hurtling toward the Red Planet. Landing: late Spring 2008.
>
> It's something to think about at four in the morning, with Mars rising
> in the east, meteors flitting across the sky, and a summer breeze
> rustling the legs of your pajamas.
>
> Maybe you should go circle your calendar again.
>
>
>
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