What are you doing tonight? If you have nothing exciting planned here is a suggestion for a FREE activity, weather permitting.
It is the 2011 Perseid Meteor Shower and for those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere, August is the best time to watch the night skies for meteors. It is predicted to peak on August 12th and 13th, fingers crossed the clouds and full moon does not hamper our view. During perfect sky conditions it is possible to see 60 to 100 meteors in just one hour!
Meteors are born when small dust grains from space impact the Earth’s atmosphere at incredibly high speeds. The light streaks we see across the night sky are from the debris burning up from friction with the atmosphere.
Ottawa weather forecast calls for a clear night. Perhaps the meteor show is a good reason to drag out a few lawn chairs, uncork a beverage, sit back, and watch the show. It sounds like a fun family activity or a perhaps romantic evening with your sweetheart. Awww.
Find a location away from the city light pollution and look up to the north-eastern sky. Do not worry, meteors are safe to watch with the naked eye.
Have fun!
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I missed seeing the Perseid shower. I have to wait until November 17/11 so I can (hopefully) see the Leonid shower!
You didn’t miss much. The beautiful bright full moon made viewing difficult. We only caught few bright flashes. November, you say?
There’s nothing like a meteor shower or simple stargazing away from light pollution to bring things into perspective. When I look at the stars, or when I’m lucky enough to look through a telescope, I remember how lucky we are to have the planet. Everything else in our solar system can’t support life. How can we destroy something so precious?
Beautifully said Andrea!
I always go out to look but never see anything special. While sleeping outside in the back yard when I was little, though, I did see an enormous white explosion in the skies. Probably an exploding sun, I always believed.
Nice blog
Funny, I saw way more things in the night sky when I was a child too. Thanks for the comment.
Andrea’s comments are bang on! The nearest extrasolar planets within the habitable zone of stars are very, very, very far away and there is little likelihood we will reach them for a long time! So we should take better care of our planet!
If anyone is interested, the Ottawa Valley Astronomy Society sets up a large telescope sometimes outside of the Silvercity Gloucester theatre. You can watch a movie and then look at the moon!
Watch a movie and look at the moon sounds like a cool way to spend an evening. Thanks for that tip Colleen.
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