FYI: Perseid meteor shower this weekend

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Driven1
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat Aug 05, 2006 7:27 am

FYI: Perseid meteor shower this weekend

Post by Driven1 »

Click below for MSNBC Story...

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14188978/?GT1=8404

Luckily, we live very close to Cherry Springs State Park here in PA. Might go up there to watch if the weather permits.

For those of you who've never heard of it, Cherry Springs is one of the Darkest spots in the Eastern United States due to a lack of light pollution. There are weekend Astronomy programs and "Star Parties" you can attend. There is now a $4.00 Family AstroField use fee. (It used to be free!)

For more info on the Park...

http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/ ... rings.aspx

http://www.upstateastro.org/stars/cssp.html

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CherrySpringsDarkskyPark/ Membership required to view posts, etc.
Last edited by Driven1 on Sat Aug 12, 2006 8:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
Crystallize
Posts: 28
Joined: Wed Aug 02, 2006 11:14 pm

Post by Crystallize »

Thanks for the reminder :D
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Schlockading
DustMod
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Location: Mesquite, TX

Post by Schlockading »

Here are some other good sites that I know of:

Gary Kronk's Comets and Meteor Showers
International Meteor Organization
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Driven1
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat Aug 05, 2006 7:27 am

I was wondering If anyone else saw...

Post by Driven1 »

an apparently fairly large meteor that skimmed our atmosphere and then kept on going last night.

It was off to the East and appeared sometime between 9 and 9:30 (I think).

It started off as a small moving speck running north to south, got very large and bright for about 10 or 15 seconds and then dimmed to the same speck and kept on going until out of view.

If anyone else saw it and managed to get a photo or video of it that would be awesome!

Anyone else see it?
DustBuster
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Location: Horsetown, USA

Post by DustBuster »

sounds like a sattelite that was reflecting sunlight at just the right angle. Possible one of the Iridium series. You can verify it at http://www.heavens-above.com
Although I believe it used to be primarily military sattelites travelled north to south (I'm not sure if info on those is available).
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Schlockading
DustMod
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Joined: Thu May 18, 2006 7:20 pm
Location: Mesquite, TX

Post by Schlockading »

If it lasted for 10-15 seconds and was moving fairly slowly (and didn't have a tail of any sort) then it was most likely an Iridium flare, caused by the sun reflecting off the irregularly large solar panels of an Iridium satellite. The Iridium satellites are a "fleet" of satellites (I think there about 100 of them) that were or maybe still are used in association with some telecommunications company. Still, there's the chance that it could've been a really big fireball, but I think it would've had to have been traveling at a pretty good clip and would've left some sort of trail of debris behind it.

I went out last night and tried to see some, but I didn't see a one, probably because of a combination between me living in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex (really bad light pollution) and the waning gibbous moon. There's always next year. I have seen some good ones in my time, though, like the 2002 Leonids. Those were something. Then I saw the 2003 Geminids, where I counted about 20 meteors. Since then, I haven't been so fortunate. It's either been cloudy or like last night, where the conditions just weren't at their best.
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Driven1
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Joined: Sat Aug 05, 2006 7:27 am

We figured it out - Definately Iridium Flare

Post by Driven1 »

We were watching again last night and experienced the same thing, in the same area of the sky. What it looks like is that as the sattelite comes in to view, it is blocked from the sun, as it gets to a point on the horizon, it is no longer blocked and lights up. Traveling further, it becomes unblocked again and dims. It didn't brighten up anywhere near as bright as it got the night before, but the effect was still there.

It was another great, clear, viewing night here but by 11:00p the moon had all but killed viewing.

Thanks for the info folks.

To the Mods - if you want, now that it's past peak Viewing for the Perseids, go ahead and delete it.
Sharqua
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Location: Bradenton, FL

Post by Sharqua »

Thanks, Driven1 :)

Someone else moved this (not sure who), but I'll go ahead and lock.

-Shar
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