A Geminid meteor. Image credit: Jimmy Westlake via JPL

YAY! My second favorite meteor show of the year is coming up this week. The Perseids shower comes to us compliments of the Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. The shower peaks on August 12 – 13, it’s a must see.

The shower seems to radiate from the constellation Perseus, which will be rising in the Northeastern Sky by 9 pm (your local time). I’ve heard predictions of up to 50 meteors per hour because the debris trail is especially favorable this year. PLUS!! The moon will be setting early on ensuring dark skies.

Don’t worry too much about being able to spot the constellation Perseus (here’s a little chart all the same), just look up. Several years ago I was coming home from a class learning how to start IV’s on poor Bram (he is now a college professor), anyway I was riding in the back seat of a hatchback at about 9:30 to 10 pm and had my head back so I was looking straight up out of the back of the car, I saw all kinds of meteors. So as long as you don’t have too many clouds (oh please-please-please no clouds for me), you will be able to see the bits of comet strike our atmosphere at 38 miles per second (61 km/sec). What actually happens is a little more complicated than what you might think:

This explanation from the US National Weather Service:

What we actually see “burning up” in our atmosphere is the air undergoing a compaction and compression ahead of the fast-moving meteoroid called incandescence. Compression is a heating process and the air ahead of a meteoroid glows brightly as the meteoroid moves quickly through our atmosphere, most of the time at speeds greater than 10 miles per second. This is why our spacecraft have to have heat shields upon re-entering our Earth’s atmosphere. Without the heat shields, the spacecraft would vaporize due to temperatures approaching several thousand degrees F.

If all goes really well I might try and get some images, that great one at the top of this post by Jimmy Westlake is on the JPL site: How to See the Best Meteor Showers of the Year: Tools, Tips and ‘Save the Dates’. Be sure to check it out!  BTW, they have a larger version of Mr. Westlake’s picture too.

My favorite shower? The Orinoids in October. Why? FIREBALLS!!

BTW Rob reminded me of this:

We have the opportunity to help out an effort to spatially analyze the Perseids meteor shower….No wait!

This is:
Easy
Costs nothing
Only requires a laptop and your eyes
It’s a fun geeky thing to do!

Check out the Perseid Project.

I’ll be participating clouds permitting.  (please-please-please no clouds!)

Comet McNaught on May 15, 2010 Credit: Michael Jager via aerith.net

There is a viewable comet out there as I mentioned yesterday.  It is named C/2009 R1 (McNaught) or as I called it here plain Comet McNaught.  For the sticklers out there I know there is more than one with the same “name” but for here and now I am referring to C/2009 R1.

I did mention Seiichi Yoshida had this at a mag. 5.5 and you might wonder why you would need a pair of binoculars (at least) and dark skies.  I have found the magnitude of a comet is about 2 magnitudes higher than an equivalent star.  So if they talk about a 5.5 magnitude comet, that would equate to a 7.5 star.  Could be it owes to the diffuse nature of a comet and this is just my observation.

So this is nice looking green colored comet (not sure why), located off the end of Pegasus.  The comet rises in the northeastern sky at about 01:00 AM your local time and I hate to tell you this but I think the best time to see it is going to be about 03:30 AM.  What really rots for me is I might not get a great look at it due to the mountains and a nearby Maple tree.   The comet isn’t all that far from the Sun so by the time it gets high enough for me daylight might be breaking.  So you know it’s not going to be real high in the sky anyways.

My saving grace is going to be putting my little scope in the car and go to a spot west of here to get a better look in that direction.   I also have to beat the clouds.

This comet is going to be around for a little bit and it could be a naked eye object pretty soon, I will let you know

Here is a finders chart for 0330 AM.  This should be valid for your local time zone.  You can see the Great Square of Pegasus on the right, and the comet to the left of it.  Find M34 and you will have find the comet.

I’ve seen many shuttle landings and the coverage always ends and the scene is a bunch of support trucks and people running around.

NASA put out a video showing some of what goes on after the camera’s go away.

Thank you NASA!

Source

BTW: This is not the post I intended;  there is a “soon to be visible comet” out there and I didn’t have a chance to nail down a few things.  I will put out better finders charts and times but if you just can’t wait, and I couldn’t check Seiichi Yoshida’s site (probably the best comet site out there IMHO).  I think it’s a mag 5.5 right now so you will need binoculars to see it.

Here is a look at the STS-132 (Atlantis) making it’s last launch.  Note the movement just before the shuttle leaves the ground.  Thrust makes the shuttle assembly bend a little bit and there is a slight delay for it to come back before the clamps open and set it free.  Happens on every launch so it’s not unique or anything, still the power is amazing.  This particular video is from the Left SRB (Solid Rocket Booster).  Here is a video showing the launch from the four SRB cams on the same screen.

Source for featured video.

Speaking of amazing, below is an image of the ISS and Shuttle transiting the Sun shortly before docking.  The image was taken in Spain by Thierry Legault, be sure to click on the image to see more of his outstanding work.  I’ve seen Thierry’s work before and  I’ve tried to do this and it’s not as easy as you might think.  All the preparation is for just a second or two of transit, you’d crack up watching trying to pull it off.  No matter, I’m up for another go at it and I’ll try again if the opportunity presents itself, and as you might expect that doesn’t happen very often.

Atlantis and the ISS transit the Sun before docking. Click for larger. Credit: Thierry Legault (via SpaceRef)

Oh and BE SURE (!!!!!) to try and get a look at the Shuttle/ISS passing overhead.   Atlantis is undocked from the ISS and this is going to be one of your last chances to see a shuttle and the ISS — EVER!  Check Heavens Above for viewing times for you (you have to register, but fear not, it’s free and safe.  Don’t forget to enter your location!

Actually it’s going to be one of your last chances to see ANY of NASA’s manned missions.  After the two remaining scheduled shuttle missions, it may be quite some time before an astronaut is launched from US soil.  Yes, I’ve seen the press releases with all the private interests lauding the new direction, however that is tempered by the fact they are a long ways from routine human space flight.  Oh they’ll get there, I just hope there is LOTS of information sharing so they can benefit from what we’ve achieved in the field.  They will right?

Venus and Mercury over Japan on March 30th. Image: Mitsuo Muraoka via Science@NASA

UPDATE: This is a VERY nice pairing.  Mercury popped out nicely at 7:52 pm EDT.  Look more to the northwest at around  7:52  your local time.  They pair are much closer than in the image above.

There will be a great chance to see a great pairing of  Mercury and Venus coming up very soon.

Both planets are reaching eastern elongation.  That is the point in their orbits where they appear to reach the point in their travels furthest east of the sun.  When that happens the planets are visible after the sun sets for a few days either side of the elongation.  Venus is visible for quite some time, Mercury not so much, so be sure to have a look and don’t forget to point it out to the kids.

Dates of Eastern Elongation:

• Mercury:  09 April 2010
• Venus:  20 April 2010

Look to the western horizon as light fades some, you will pick up Venus first, it will be well above the horizon.  Mercury will become visible shortly afterwards and a bit lower in the sky.  The two planets will get as close as 3^o so as I said they will make for a great sight.   April 3rd and 4th is probably the best nights to look to see the close pairing.

A blue moon! See it on New Year's Eve!

Unless you are as unlucky as I am (heh, I know Trudy is in the same boat) you will be treated to a blue moon on New Years eve!  Ok the moon won’t really be blue, but it will be full and also the second full moon in one month and that my friends, is a blue moon.  Gosh it’s been a while since the last one, May of 2007 I think.

The last blue moon on New Years was in 1990 and the next one won’t be until 2028 so while you are ringing in the new year, please take a moment and go outside and look up at the moon.  Hey go out early and take the kids.  It will be a long time before you can do it again and your kids will be adults by then!

Now why am I lamenting my  and as it happens Trudy’s bad luck?  Because even though we are not located all that close together we aren’t so far apart we both will escape the New Years storm heading our way.