AMATEUR ASTRONOMY:

THE PERSEIDS ARE HERE-TONIGHT!:

Well, not exactly, more like the wee hours of tomorrow, August 12. But still "this night" has some meaning. Here are a few relevant times of other events that may affect your viewing from the Time and Date website. These times are for here in Winnipeg in the Central Time Zone. If you live elsewhere consult the above website for your local times.

Sunset today, August 11........................8:53 PM

Sunrise tomorrow, August 12...............6:15 AM

Moonrise tonight, August 11.................6:12 PM

Moonset tomorrow, August 12.............1:19 PM

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As previously mentioned on this blog the peak of the Perseids will fall between 11:30 and 14:00 UT. This translates as 6:30 am and 9:00 am here in Winnipeg so observers in this province will miss the peak of the shower. Viewing in the early pre-dawn hours, however, may still be rewarding. The further west you go the better the timing, and people on the west coast should have a good show.

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THE RADIANT

The diagram above shows the "radiant" for the Perseid meteor shower. The radiant in a meteor shower is the place in the sky where the meteors appear to be coming from if you trace back their paths. As you can see above the radiant of the "Perseids" is actually between Perseus and the constellation Cassiopeia. Still somewhat closer to Perseus however. See if you can determine the radiants of the meteors you see tonight.