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THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT: You can now experience
the Perseid meteor shower on your iPhone. It's cloud-proof!
Learn more and give
it a try. |
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SPACEWEATHER RADIO:
The US Air Force Space Surveillance Radar is scanning the skies
over North America. When a Perseid meteor passes overhead--"ping"--there
is an echo. Tune into Spaceweather
Radio for a live audio feed from the radar facility.
PERSEID UPDATE:
The Perseid meteor shower is about to peak. The show begins after
sunset on Tuesday, August 11th, and continues until dawn on Wednesday,
August 12th. During the long night, sky watchers could see dozens
of meteors per hour. (continued below)
A time of particular interest is 0800 UT (1 am PDT) on August 12th.
That's when Earth is expected to pass through a denser-than-usual
filament of dust from the shower's parent Comet Swift-Tuttle. For
an hour or so, rates could surge to 200 per hour. Bright moonlight
will blot out many of those Perseids, but even a fraction of 200
is a good show. Observing tips may be found in the Science@NASA
story "The
Perseids are Coming."
UPDATED: 2009
Perseid Photo Gallery
[Previous Perseids: 2008,
2007, 2006,
2005, 2004,
2001]
TOP SECRET:
Not every light that streaks across the night sky is a Perseid.
Some of them are spy satellites. Here's one gliding over Maghaberry,
Northern Ireland, on August 10th:
"It was Lacrosse 3," reports photographer John McConnell.
"Spaceweather's Simple Satellite Tracker
predicted a flyby and there it was."
Lacrosse 3 is a top-secret yet easily observed US National Reconnaissance
Office spy satellite. It often attracts attention when sunlight
glints brightly from its solar panels, rumored to span 45 meters
from tip to tip. The solar arrays power a synthetic aperture radar,
which can image Earth's surface with meter-resolution even through
clouds. Some web sites claim that the radar can also sense objects
underground, but that's just speculation.
"I couldn't mistake Lacrosse 3 because it was so bright,"
says McConnell. "This is even better than Perseids!"
2009
Noctilucent Photo Gallery
[previous years: 2008,
2007, 2006,
2005, 2004,
2003]
July
2009 Aurora Gallery
[previous Julys: 2008,
2007, 2006,
2005, 2004,
2003]
Explore
the Sunspot Cycle
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