The year’s most dazzling meteor shower takes place tonight

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-- The year’s most dazzling meteor shower takes place tonight

Posted by Magnetonium on Aug-12-2010 22:18:

The year’s most dazzling meteor shower takes place tonight

Get your cameras ready for tonight and tomorrow night - this should be much better than Aurora Borealis.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/art...ce-tonight?bn=1

quote:

Tonight, just lie back and look at the stars.

If you want company, the David Dunlap Observatoryin Richmond Hill is throwing a party to see the celestial light show – as many as 100 meteors per hour as the Perseid shower hits its stride.

For southern and central Ontario, just after sunset this evening, weather permitting, should kick off the most spectacular cosmic alignment of planets sprinkled with shooting stars.

Astronomers expect Venus, Saturn and Mars to squeeze together in the western sky near the last sliver of the moon. As the skies darken, starting around 10:30 p.m., the Perseid shower should kick into full flight.

“A very good shower will produce about one meteor per minute under a dark country sky,” observatory astronomers say. The annual August Perseid is among the strongest cascades of the year, and tonight it’s at its height.

Stargazers planning a trek to the observatory should bring lawn chairs and blankets for the open house from 9:30 p.m. to midnight. DDO promises to post a forecast at 6 p.m. with weather conditions. The best way to watch, says National Geographic, is simply lying back on the ground or in a chair with the naked eye.

DDO will have small telescopes available on the grounds for people to use while waiting to watch other celestial shows, said Dr. Ralph Chou, president of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Toronto Centre.

Photographers need only point their camera skyward and open the shutter for 10 seconds at a time to capture the light show, he said.

Earth moving through a cloud of dust and debris left by the Swift-Tuttle comet sets off the Perseids each mid-August. As the debris hits the atmosphere at 160,000 kilometres an hour, it burns up in streaks of light.

Environment Canada is predicting mostly clear skies tonight.

Posted by Endlesswave on Aug-12-2010 22:27:

Nice

Posted by jester on Aug-12-2010 23:15:

Posted by Dior Homme on Aug-13-2010 03:20:

My neck currently hurts from looking at the sky. Haven't seen a meteor yet.....

Posted by Dior Homme on Aug-13-2010 03:54:

So anyway, i saw 3 black dude getting search with 5 cruisers line up in brampton. and 2 cruisers in the park close to chingcousy...

no meteor shower. i did step in dog poop though.

Posted by Dior Homme on Aug-13-2010 03:54:

So anyway, i saw 3 black dude getting search with 5 cruisers line up in brampton. and 2 cruisers in the park close to chingcousy...

no meteor shower. i did step in dog poop though.

Posted by Dior Homme on Aug-13-2010 03:54:

Posted by Mach X on Aug-13-2010 03:57:

I saw a triple post...

TRIPLE POST! WOAH! What does it mean?! It was almost a...quadruple post!

SO INTENSE!

Posted by Dior Homme on Aug-13-2010 04:09:

internet slow in brampton... deleting posts doesnt work for me.

Posted by Abercrombie on Aug-13-2010 04:38:

holy cow, they are really coming down tonight! Three huge ones I saw in the time of one smoke.

Posted by Magnetonium on Aug-13-2010 04:50:

quote:
Originally posted by Abercrombie
holy cow, they are really coming down tonight! Three huge ones I saw in the time of one smoke.

Yeah, I drove out about 30 minutes into the countryside and man WHAT A VIEW ... Miky Way galaxy, shiny stars, clear sky ... and LOTS of damn meteorites! Every couple minutes or so I see a quick linear 1-second bright flash

My camera pooped, I couldn't find the shutter option for taking a pic over a 1 minute period.

Posted by *~LiSa-LoO~* on Aug-13-2010 14:55:

We couldn't see anything from our balcony

Posted by Jer on Aug-13-2010 16:35:

Just moved to the 'burbs on the north edge of London and ended up seeing a bunch just laying in my backyard for ~40 mins. Truly cool shit.

Posted by love_child on Aug-13-2010 17:34:

quote:
Originally posted by Dior Homme
So anyway, i saw 3 black dude getting search with 5 cruisers line up in brampton. and 2 cruisers in the park close to chingcousy...

no meteor shower. i did step in dog poop though.

I was at Mayfield and Hurontario last night... saw 3 or 4 of them. You really have to be patient.

Posted by Stilez on Aug-13-2010 17:47:

Jumped in the ride w/ the roomie & Catalinae, headed north (was supposed to be a bit north, turned out we ended up in Barrie). Drove down a backroad along a farmer's field and saw a shitload of amazing & huge meteors. We also heard coyotes howling & pretty sure I saw some deer. My city boy ass was creeped out

Posted by Dior Homme on Aug-13-2010 19:24:

quote:
Originally posted by love_child
I was at Mayfield and Hurontario last night... saw 3 or 4 of them. You really have to be patient.

I understand that. I was there for over an hour. So angry.

Posted by tvmann on Aug-13-2010 23:58:

Haven't watched yet this year, but in a really good year you can see one meteor per minute. Most years aren't anywhere near that good.

Once I saw a Perseids meteor that left a smoke trail that stayed visible for 5 minutes.