PERSEID METEOR SHOWER !
Look out tonight, Saturday, around 10 pm onwards, and you may catch a ‘falling star’. Peak time of this annual display is tonight. Usually the best observing time is the wee hours of the morning – but this year the Moon will be high in the sky by then – blotting out the fainter meteors. So conditions are not ideal, but if you have a clear dark sky and some patience, you should see some action.
Big cities are of course not good. So I will be journeying to my excellent astrophotographer pal Jamie Cooper’s place.
This shower happens because every year around this time the Earth passes through the orbit of comet Swift-Tuttle – which has laid a trail of ejected small particles (essentially dust) which burn up as they hit our atmosphere at high speed.
Good luck !
Bri
PHOTO – by JAMIE COOPER – taken a few years ago in Sir Patrick Moore’s garden. Ah .. those were good days …