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About a month ago, I blogged about this August’s upcoming Perseids meteor shower. Now the wait is almost over and the only thing that may keep us from enjoying it is the weather. The annual Perseids meteor shower is one of the most awaited yearly meteor showers and is known to display as much as 1 meteor per minute sometimes even more. Now that it’s coming, it’s best to get prepared.

Above is a timelapse photo of the 2005 Annual Perseids Meteor shower. Note the different kinds and colors of meteors that can be seen emanating from a single point in the sky

When to Look

The peak of the shower is expected to come on August 12 at 11pm Pacific Time (-8GMT) so that means that would be around August 13 at 3pm here in the Philippines. Bad thing is that the peak comes when the Sun is up (don’t expect to see meteors during the day) so the best time for Philippine-based watchers to observe the meteor shower would be from 12 midnight till about 4am of August 13 (Monday). Last year, the moon washed out most of the meteors from the sky but this year’s good news is that the moon’s glare will be out of the way and this means more visible meteors.

Where to Look

Look for a dark place in your neighborhood. Bring along your friends and family and some food to eat. The lesser light pollution, the better.

The Perseids will appears to be emanating from the constellation Perseus which will be just above the Northeast Horizon on August 13 @ 12MN so the best thing to do is to scan the Northeast Horizon upto the zenith. The zenith is the point in the sky directly above your head.

What to expect

If the weather is good, meaning no clouds in the sky, then you could expect to see about 1 to 2 meteors every minute in a clear and dark sky. Try counting them and compare notes with your friends.

More info about the about the annual Perseids meteor shower can be found at Wikipedia and Space.COM

What’s Next?

Watch out for the Aurigids on September 1.

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