Pick out a dark place for the Perseids

Got your dark sky place picked out for the Perseid Meteor shower? The Perseids are one of the best showers of the year to observe. I recall several years ago I was attending the Nebraska Star Party in north central Nebraska when the Perseids were in full force. There were oohhs and aahhs from all over the observing field and we all temporarily forgot our eyepieces to observe the entire sky for the bright, short-lived meteors.

Leftover bits from Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, (which made its most recent appearance in 1992) the meteors are hardly larger than a grain of sand, but traveling in excess of 132,000 miles per hour, they can make a big display when striking the Earth's atmosphere. The comet takes 130 years to complete an orbit of the Sun.

The meteors seem to come out of the constellation Perseus which will be rising above the northeastern horizon at about 11 p.m. local time. You won't need anything but your eyes to observe. The best viewing time for the Perseids, however, is after midnight. The constellation can be found below the "W" shaped Cassiopeia and to the left of the Great Square of Pegasus, both autumn constellations by the way.

Peak observing time will be in the late evening hours of Sunday, Aug. 12, and the early morning hours of Monday, Aug. 13. Since the Moon will be new on Aug. 12, there will be no moonlight to wash out the brightness of the shower. You may even want to do some observing in the late evening hours of Saturday, Aug. 11, just to see how many you can see then.

While observing the shower, look between Cassiopeia and Perseus for the lovely Perseus Double Star Cluster. You won't need binoculars to find the clusters but binoculars will improve the observing of the cluster pair.

If you are still out observing after 1 a.m. look for the reddish planet Mars rising just below the Pleiades star cluster. Mars will soon be followed by the constellations Taurus the Bull and Auriga, the Charioteer. If you can hang on until after 4 a.m. you can watch for Orion the Hunter and Gemini to make an appearance just before the eastern sky begins to brighten for sunrise.

Well, I wanted to talk about the upcoming total lunar eclipse, but I guess that will have to wait until next time.

SKY WATCH: New Moon, Aug. 12. Venus and Saturn are leaving the evening sky which places Jupiter as the focus of attention in the south for early evening viewing. The space shuttle Endeavour was scheduled for launch today. If it made it into orbit check out www.heavens-above.com for information about possible passages over this area. The planet Neptune will be at opposition, on the opposite side of the Sun, in our sky on Monday, Aug. 13. A pair of binoculars could reveal the blue-green orb among the stars in the eastern edge of Capricornus in the south after midnight.

Next time:

Get ready for a total lunar eclipse.