Perseid meteors - brace for endazzlement

Scientists are pulling their annual trick of promising a dazzling Perseid meteor shower, although seasoned Brit skygazers know only too well just thinking about the possibility of being treated to a spectacular lightshow is enough to provoke 10/10 cloud cover and torrential rain. The Perseids are set to peak on Thursday night …

[Scott Broukell]

are you sure that's .....

Tuttle and not Buttle !

[some vaguely opinionated bloke]

That would deserve...

... a Swift [Re]Buttle...

[Robert E A Harvey]

Wyndham

Don't look if they are all green...

Mine is the double layer leather one with a chicken wire face mask.

[Schick]

Re Wyndham

That's dumb. Chicken wire is too flimsy and the gaps is too big. Youse needs Merikan muzzy screen over welded-mesh rabbit hutch stuff ...dipped in RoundUp. Don't you Brits know nothin?

[Anonymous Coward]

planet watchers should be in for a treat also

the Perseids this year will be coupled with a pretty good planetary alignment.

Mars, Venus and Saturn are all within a gnats of the crescent moon, with Mercury not far below (but never more than 14' from the sun, so it will set long before the Perseids are visible)

there is a reasonable sky map at

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/05aug_perseids/

which links to a GIF with the planets added at

http://heliophysics.org/headlines/y2010/images/perseids/skymap_12aug10.gif

[ElNumbre]

Insert Schoolboy Humor...

<< Insert childish joke here about Titan, a full moon and Uranus. >>

[Annihilator]

Uranus

Astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to Urectum

[Disco-Legend-Zeke]

Rectum, hell...

...killedem.

[Anonymous Coward]

Cloudy

Yup, you were right. Met Office forcasts cloud.

[Graham Dawson]

Clear skies then.

What, you think they'll get it right?

[phuzz]

Viewing conditions

I've had many fun nights getting pissed and watching the Perseids.

From France of course, never over here :(

[John Angelico]

Well, this should solve...

Well this...

"the possibility of being treated to a spectacular lightshow is enough to provoke 10/10 cloud cover and torrential rain."

...should solve the world's greatest moral crisis previously known as "global warming" but lately called "climate change"

...shouldn't it?

Err, the raincoat, thanks.

[Anonymous Coward]

France

Remember seeing this in France about 15 years ago, amazing. Dozens and dozens of shooting stars! Chances of seeing it from the UK....... about as much chance as this being the hottest summer. Pissing it down as we speak...

[Matthew 17]

this is clearly a cover story to hide Nibiru

They use Chemtrails to mask what's really going on.

[Mitch Kent]

10/10?

My pre-GCSE geography class told me that it was measured in eighths. It was a good few years until I found anything else measured that way...

[TkH11]

crap

I gave up years ago watching astronomical events of any kind. Didn't get a decent solar eclipse, didn't see Hailey's comet, and only about once in life ever saw a meteorite burning up.

Only other thing i've seen are the odd satellite flying over and that was from a very rural part of the country.

[Anonymous Coward]

Was lucky enough to see the Leonids

In 2001 they were visible in clear skies in the desert in Aus from around 11pm to dawn and peaked at around one per minute. I wasn't aware until then that you could hear and see them explode. Words like spectacular and awesome should be reserved for such occasions. One of the best nights of my life.

[Yorkshirepudding]

Uhhhh Laaaa

but still they come......

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, i'm surprised

I, for one, welcome our glowing perseid overlords.

[gimbal]

Thanks for the heads-up, El Reg

It sounds like it'll be a fine weekend to go camping somewhere under clear skies - no joke...

[Baskitcaise]

fine weekend to go camping

I shall be happily ensconced in a nice small valley I know in North Wales.

No street lights nor houses for miles.

No phones,

No computers.

Just a tent, good company and the stars.

Bliss.

Flames? from the camp fire of course.

[Richard Scratcher]

An absolute shower

The last time I managed to see the Perseid meteors was about 17 years ago on a warm and clear August night. I didn't have a camera good enough to photograph any of them in those days but I made a drawing of one, which I've reproduced below.

/

[Mistere1]

War of the worlds anywone?

So the event is to the later end of this week?

I was reminded of the following lyrics:

At midnight on the twelfth of August, a huge mass of

luminous gas erupted from Mars

and sped towards Earth. Across two hundred million miles

of void, invisibly hurtling

...towards us, came the first of the missiles that were to

bring so much calamity to Earth.

[Michael H.F. Wilkinson]

Real men watch the Bootids

and have the nadgers frozen off:

4 Jan 1979, 3:00 a.m., Bootid swarm beautiful, but -27.3 Celsius.

Great show though!

[Ron Eve]

@An absolute shower

haha! That really made me chuckle..

[ravenviz]

Re:article icon

Interesting article icon showing protostellar bipolar ejection