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View Full Version : Perseid meteor shower will be a rare, intense 'outburst' this year



FoxtrotOscar
08-12-16, 01:16 AM
http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=30784&stc=1

Astronomers are predicting that this year’s Perseid meteor shower should be a dramatic one.

That means that stargazers away from bright city lights should head outdoors Thursday night and very early Friday morning to recline and catch a glimpse of natural fireworks that could feature as many as 200 shooting stars each hour, according to NASA. The show is supposed to really kick off after midnight Friday morning.

The night spanning Friday, August 12 into Saturday, August 13, is also a good time to catch them, NASA says.

While the Perseid meteor shower occurs annually in August, this one should be more intense than usual. Scientists describe it as an “outburst,” the last of which happened in 2009.

“Forecasters are predicting a Perseid outburst this year with double normal rates on the night of Aug. 11-12,” Bill Cooke, a meteor expert at NASA’s Meteoroid Environments Office in Huntsville, Alabama, said in a statement (http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/watchtheskies/perseid-meteor-shower-aug11-12.html) earlier this month. “Under perfect conditions, rates could soar to 200 meteors per hour.”

The meteors are tiny, but are cruising at 132,000 miles per hour, NASA says. That means they burn up brightly— a sizzling 3,000 to 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The particles were left behind by a comet called Swift-Tuttle.

This year is expected to have such a bright display because the Earth is traveling through more debris from the comet, according to the space agency.

The last time that comet passed proximate to Earth was in 1992, according to the Royal Astronomical Society, which said (http://www.ras.org.uk/news-and-press/2897-perseid-meteors-could-see-surge-in-activity-on-11-and-12-august) this year will be a “surge in activity” for the annual meteor shower.

Tennessee Top
08-13-16, 11:23 AM
This whole thing was a hoax (just like the world coming to an end according to the Mayan calendar). Went out multiple times, clear sky, never saw one meteor. If I had paid for this overhyped event, I'd be demanding a refund!

FoxtrotOscar
08-13-16, 11:57 AM
http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=30790&stc=1

In this 30 second exposure, a meteor streaks across the sky during the annual Perseid meteor shower Friday, Aug. 12, 2016 in Spruce Knob, West Virginia.

The Perseids show up every year in August when Earth ventures through trails of debris left behind by an ancient comet. This year, Earth may be in for a closer encounter than usual with the comet trails that result in meteor shower, setting the stage for a spectacular display.

Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

No idea where you think this is a HOAX Top, it happens all the time....

DanM
08-13-16, 12:47 PM
It was mostly a dud in my area,overcast. The NASA camera showed very few also,but the comments on the live feed people in some locations did see a number but not the 200 per hour. There are photos at http://spaceweathergallery.com/index.php?title=perseid fro a number of locations.

Tennessee Top
08-13-16, 01:30 PM
Can only report on what we saw here in East Tennessee - which was zilch. May have happened for others but did not happen for us. According to my family members up in Ohio, they never saw anything either. Overhyped IMO.

Gunny068
08-13-16, 03:46 PM
I was also interested in seeing this event.....Nothing here in Oregon either

Mongoose
08-13-16, 04:31 PM
Have seen it a couple of times. Once very intense , the other, not to good.