The farther North the better the view - as I happen to be 2-hours above Edmonton, AB this week I plan to take in the show. Forecast is clear & cool................

https://www.scientificamerican...20go%20out%20earlier.

During the next few nights, you can witness countless pieces of a comet rain down on Earth.

But don’t be alarmed. It’s perfectly safe! This weekend, August 12–13, is the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, which offers dozens of “shooting stars” per hour. It is one of the best, most reliable meteor showers. And with no bright moon to interfere with this year’s show, it’s a great time to go outside and—at least figuratively—see the sky fall.

Also important is when to go out. Given the celestial geometry of this year’s event, the ideal time is after midnight—the later, the better. The best show will occur after about 2 to 3 A.M. EDT, but you’ll still see some meteors even if you go out earlier.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll be out there. I was looking at the sky last night - We moved just out on the edge of the city and 3/4's of the sky is lit up at night, and that one sector northeast out over the bare desert is dark. Might drive up there a ways and post up on a quiet stretch of road on the north side of the mountains.

Don't let the lume glare off the new watch ruin your view

I’ll look before bed.

No joy so far. It’s kind of cloudy. Also, seems like there are more planes than usual. Is it expected? People get in their planes to watch the shower?

Saw about 3 dozen in a half-hour after 0100 Central time in the Apostle Islands. Milky Way was in great form, too!

I can see Per A and Mirfak but no showers yet. Where are you looking? I’m looking NE about 30-40 degrees above horizon.

quote:

Originally posted by sgalczyn:
Don't let the lume glare off the new watch ruin your view

Lol! Didn't wind up mattering, we had cloud cover from 10pm to 3:00am. I'm calling it.

I can predict the weather in Western PA, this same weekend for the next 40 years. = Cloudy. History is the best predictor of the future.

Somebody should fix the prime time for this... ain't no way I'm staying or getting up at 2:00 in the morning.

Too cloudy on Maryland’s Eastern Shore last night to see anything. But there was a nice breeze for sitting out looking over the Chesapeake.

We saw a total of 4 from about midnight till 12:45 here in SW MI. It seemed kind of hazy, don't know if it was a vestige of the smoke from the Canadian wildfires.

I'm all for celestial events, but at my age not in the wee hours of the morning.

I got to see a few meteors when I was up with the pups at 2am. The central WA skies were cloudless.

After I posted what I posted, I shut down the computer and headed for the bedroom. Glanced out the back window and saw stars, so I went out and took one last look and I’m glad I did. There was a cloudless patch to the northeast, and I saw a dozen plus of them in the ten minutes or so before it clouded back over. I don’t know why, but I expected to see them all streaking the same direction and that wasn’t the case. Really neat stuff. May try again tonight, we usually have clear skies here, so I’m hopeful.

Are they super visible because they are white hot from zipping through the earths atmosphere ?

Or are they bright from reflective light?
Or
What?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bendable,

Glowing due to friction with the Earth’s atmosphere.

Went out for about forty five minutes or so, saw another dozen. There were three that were brighter than the rest and of those three, one glowed very bright and left a bright streak longer than all the others. Probably go out a bit later.

Thanks for the reminder. I will be visiting my daughter in rural Nebraska this week and the dark skies are terrific out there.