see a meteor shower

Here is a site I found for 2009. I still don’t know the locations. Bummer. But I think I’m going to try and see Perseids in August. I’m a little sad I missed Leonids in 2001. I bet it would have been amazing!

http://www.theskyscrapers.org/meteors/

1- Know the meteor shower timings: NASA provides a good reference, I compared it to periodical Meteor showers time tables I have, and now I think I know when the big shows will be. Still I need to double check it.

2- Check moon phases: with a full moon it will be very hard to watch anything.

3- Pick a location: it must be outside the city, or else city lights will cover it up.

I can do the first 2 steps, but the third is very hard.. our city is huge! I’ll need someone with me all the way. I don’t know anyone interested enough in this.

I know the schedule, that way I can plan accordingly. The next one is April 21st!

Name Date of Peak Moon Phase
Lyrids night of April 21/22 near new Moon
Eta Aquarids May 5 Sets around 4 a.m.
Perseids August 12, morning/evening Rise around midnight
Orionids October 21, morning Near new Moon
Leonids night of November 17/18, morning New Moon
Geminids night of December 13/14 Near new Moon

Got up before dawn, put on my coat, and drank some coffee before I noticed it was rainy and foggy outside. Next meteor shower is the Lyrids on April 22 give or take a day and between 10 and dawn.

This is the next meteor shower for this area. Says to look north in the hours before dawn.

Leonid meteor shower, 1997 or 1998, when I was still in junior college. It was mostly luck. I was asked to a viewing party on the beach organised by a local astronomy club. The early part of the night was somewhat overcast, but towards morning the clouds moved on, and I saw about 15 shooting stars in total – not as many as I wanted to see, but just lying on the beach looking at the night sky the whole night remains a very special memory.

I was a little girl and i woke up in the middle of the night for some co-co and my mom rushed me outside so i could watch! It was a pretty amazing thing, i just wish i had a camera! :]

Due to rain clouds moving in. Won’t complain, though, because we REALLY needed the rain. Next good meteor shower isn’t until 2009.

In the evening we can see many many more stars that we could living in the centre of London. Now to hope that the next meteor shower is on a non-cloudy night.

The Draconids is the only other meteor shower this year that may be visible in this area, so I put it down on my calender. This one is supposed to be best seen in the earlier evening hours instead of after midnight, so that’s a help.