Viewing the Perseids in 2009

It is important to appreciate the differences between meteors and meteorites. Meteors are shooting stars that we see in the night sky. A very large meteor is described as a fireball or bolide. Any part of a meteor that makes it to Earth becomes a meteorite. So, all meteorites were once meteors, but not all meteors become meteorites, as many burn up entirely in the atmosphere.

Every year we experience a number of meteor showers, with the Perseids and the Leonids typically being the most visible. These annual meteor showers are a result of our planet passing through debris trails left by comets. The nuclei of comets are believed to be made largely of  ice, and as their elliptical orbits take them nearer to our sun, they warm up and small fragments of ice, and possibly rock, are left behind as a debris trail. When Earth encounters these debris trails, fragments burn up in our atmosphere and meteor showers are the result. Since the material that causes the meteors is friable in nature (ice particles) none of the material makes it to the surface of our planet. Every year the Meteorite Men receive reports from people who watched the Perseids or the Leonids, and later think they have found a meteorite in their yard. But there has never been a documented case of  a meteorite being recovered that was associated with one of the annual meteor showers.

Meteor showers take their name after the constellation from which they "appear" to originate. In other words, the Persieds seem to fly towards us out of the constellation of Peresus, but that is an illusion. Alpha Per, one of the stars that makes up the constellation of Perseus is almost six hundred light years away from us, and the comets that actually produce the meteor material orbit our own sun, and are much, much closer.

VEIWING TIPS 

The annual meteor showers occur at the same time each year, but differ in the amount of meteors they produce. Perseid meteors are visible in the night sky each year in mid-August. The "peak" (time of maximum activity) is usually on, or about, August 12. 2009 is not expected to be a spectacular shower, but it is sill likely that observers will be able to see many good shooting starts. The best viewing is predicted to be after midnight on the night of August 11, on into the morning of August 12. Typically, the later it gets, the greater the number of visible meteors, with the peak often occurring a hour or more before dawn.

The best way to observe is to find an area with dark skies, away from cities and street lights. The darker the sky, the better your chances of seeing meteors. I recommend reclining in a deck chair or lying down on a blanket, so you can view as much of the sky as possible. After midnight, the constellation of Perseus will be in the northeast, for observers in North America. As the Persied meteors are typically very fast moving a telescope or a pair of binoculars is not needed.

Turn off the lights, and happy stargazing!