The Perseids is Here!

Ok sky watchers, time to get out the ole lawn chair and sleeping bag, brew some hot chocolate, lay down and look up at the sky.  The annual Perseids meteor shower is here!

All regularly occurring meteor showers happen when the Earth passes through the dust cloud left behind from a comet. 

In the case of the Perseids, the Earth is passing through the dust left behind from comet Swift-Tuttle (discovered in1862)  Most of the meteors are no larger than a grain of sand but when they inter the Earth's atmosphere heat builds up as a result of the compression of air in front of the fragment. This causes the meteor to glow.  

Meteors flare up and rapidly burn out.  However, some meteors (if they are large enough) leave behind smoke trails easily visible in the sky.  REALLY large ones (the size of a potato or larger) can survive to hit the ground, thus becoming a meteorite.  

The name for this meteor shower, the Perseids, comes from the direction the meteors come from, namely Perseus the Hero.  The best meteors will be seen after Perseus has risen high into the sky, well after midnight.  

Want to take some pictures? Try setting your camera to the "fireworks" setting and hold REALLY still.  If anyone gets any feel free to send them and I'll post them (full credit of course)

Constellation Perseus, created by the Author using Stellarium.