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The Perseids: July-August 2009
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Summary: Forecasters expect the 2009 Perseid meteor shower to peak on August 11th and 12th. Moonlight will interfere with the display, but not ruin it. Sky watchers in dark country locations could see more than 100 meteors per hour, and perhaps as many as 200 if Earth passes through an anticipated filament of comet dust that is crossing Earth's path. NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office warns of a possible outburst at 0800 UT (01 a.m. PDT) on August 12th. [live meteor counts] [possible outburst] [observing tips] [sky map]

 
  Photographer, Location Images Comments


Yuichi Takasaka,
Bow Valley, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada
Aug. 12, 2009
#1, more

Most of British Columbia was cloudy and/or rainy so I decided to drive to Alberta to watch Perseids. It was cloudy when I arrived to Banff National Park, but the sky opened up some part of the night. This image was taken at 04:36 Mountain Time.

Photo details: Canon 5D MarkII, EF24/1.4L MarkII


Jehin Emmanuel,
Spa, Belgium
Aug. 12, 2009
#1, #2, more

We saw only a few meteors during the night August 11-12, but we could "hear" a lot of them (about 4 per minute - image1) thanks to the Groupe Astronomie de Spa (Belgium) Yagi antenna, listening to a distant Russian TV channel at 49.76 Mhz. The echoes are produced when the TV signal is bouncing off the meteor's ionized tail and is then captured by the antenna. This image is a computer jpeg record (using SpectrumLab software) of the meteor signals (short vertical streaks) in frequency space spanning 5 minutes around 01:22UT August 12. The 2d image is a similar record around 07:57 UT August 12 when the number of very strong meteors (overdense meteors as "big blobs") suddenly increased (from ~1 bright every 5 minutes to ~1 per minute) for about 45 minutes.


Keith Breazeal,
The California Sierra Nevada Mountains just south of Lake Tahoe at the 7,500 foot elevation.
Aug. 11, 2009
#1

High in the California Sierra Nevada Mountains the sky is spectacular. Even with the moonlight, the Perseids were visible to the north. In this super wide field photo, the Milky Way provides a dramatic backdrop for the Perseids. This 90 second exposure captures the landscape as if were daylight and brings out the beautiful night sky. The Perseid in this photo was one of the nights best and brightest displays.


Don Oberbeck,
Boulder, Colorado
Aug. 12, 2009
#1

Photo details: 2:03 am MDT, August 12. 30 sec. exposure, ISO 800, f/4.


Kyle Gerstner,
Cassoday, Kansas
Sep. 12, 2009
#1, more

Teter rock in the Flint Hills of Kansas. Taken with a Canon Mark 2 with a 16/35mm 2.8f lens at 16mm 2.8F, shutter 25 seconds ISO 400. I saw around 15 meteors overnight. Would have seen more if I wasn't fiddling with the camera so. much.

more images: from Steve Elliott of Farnborough, Hampshire, UK; from Clint Keever of Benton, Arkansas; from Carlos Pereira of Escazú, San José, Costa Rica; from Dick McGowan of Melvern Lake, Kansas; from Stephen Mudge of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia