Meteor shower tonight

[Jiggy_12]

This is the heaviest night during the Perseid meteor shower, and the most activity should be between midnight and dawn.

Hopefully its a clear night! Supposed to be about 50-100 meteors per hour.

[taffeyb]

not looking too good for a clear night...

[Huntingwhale]

Dammit! If only it wasn't overcast tonight. I don't know how many people here have ever gotten the chance to see that meteor shower before...but it truly is epic.

[troutman]

Shower! Shower!

[Regulator75]

The best meteor shower I saw was back in 1990 or so. Staying in the Shuswap for the Summer, the skies were pitch black and the colourful streaks lit up the night sky.

They went on for hours and hours, it was truly epic.

Hopefully tonight it clears up, I'd like to get some long exposure shots.

[burn_this_city]

I'm heading out to shuswap tonight. Hopefully I'm not exhausted and can stay up and watch for a bit. The weather looks clear according to the forecast.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

I'm heading out to shuswap tonight. Hopefully I'm not exhausted and can stay up and watch for a bit. The weather looks clear according to the forecast.

Hopefully the smoke from all the fires has cleared too.

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by troutman

Hopefully the smoke from all the fires has cleared too.

Oh yeah, crap.

[cmyden]

It was all going to work out perfectly, the moon won't be interfering at all this year which is rare, but the g%#%#% clouds are going to ruin the show.

[HPLovecraft]

Clear sky here in Toronto right now.

[North East Goon]

Any idea in which direction to be viewing this. And yes I know up would be the first direction to look.

[Frank MetaMusil]

Originally Posted by North East Goon

Any idea in which direction to be viewing this. And yes I know up would be the first direction to look.

Looking northeast around midnight on August 12th-13th.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by North East Goon

Any idea in which direction to be viewing this. And yes I know up would be the first direction to look.

They will appear to come from the Perseus constellation, in the NE part of the sky. But really, they can appear most anywhere in the sky.

The few hours before dawn are usually the best viewing.

[Kidder]

Question to all the meteor gurus in this thread:

Me and a buddy were driving to the west coast last week and were on a stretch of highway outside Kamloops in the middle of the night. Right about 4 am.

Suddenly we're struck by an object on the passenger door side close to the windshield. We both caught a glimpse of the thing a moment before it struck us out of the corner of our eyes. About baseball size, and looked spherical. From the sound of impact it was clear this wasn't a bird or animal, way too solid, and on later inspection in left a dent and scratch along the paint.

So we naturally assumed a rock. The thing is the highway was totally deserted at the time. No cars infront of us to kick it up, nor semis passing. The stretch of highway is valley, so it's not like there's a mountain nearby it could have come off of. The only thing we could think was some kid was out on a Friday night having some fun hiding off the highway and chucking rocks at passing cars.

We've told a few people and some have suggested it was a meteor. Some jokingly, others dead serious. Is that plausible? And then according to my buddies dad... are we absolute idiots not stopping the car and backtracking to try and locate this fallen meteor that'd apparently be worth millions of dollars?

[SilverGS]

At 4am tryiing to find a potential meteorite along the highway even if you stopped right away is not likely IMO.

Meteories won't fetch you that much unless they are very rare. Even then it may only fetch you a couple thousand not millions. Most common ones may only get you 50 bucks.

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by Kidder

Question to all the meteor gurus in this thread:

Me and a buddy were driving to the west coast last week and were on a stretch of highway outside Kamloops in the middle of the night. Right about 4 am.

Suddenly we're struck by an object on the passenger door side close to the windshield. We both caught a glimpse of the thing a moment before it struck us out of the corner of our eyes. About baseball size, and looked spherical. From the sound of impact it was clear this wasn't a bird or animal, way too solid, and on later inspection in left a dent and scratch along the paint.

So we naturally assumed a rock. The thing is the highway was totally deserted at the time. No cars infront of us to kick it up, nor semis passing. The stretch of highway is valley, so it's not like there's a mountain nearby it could have come off of. The only thing we could think was some kid was out on a Friday night having some fun hiding off the highway and chucking rocks at passing cars.

We've told a few people and some have suggested it was a meteor. Some jokingly, others dead serious. Is that plausible? And then according to my buddies dad... are we absolute idiots not stopping the car and backtracking to try and locate this fallen meteor that'd apparently be worth millions of dollars?

It's been a long time since I have taken physics but a baseball sized meteor probably gone right through the car unless it had bounced off something.

I did have my windshield shatter from something on highway 93 one night about 1 am with no other vehicles in site though so who knows.

[CaptainCrunch]

reading up on it a metorite hits the ground at about 500kmh. and would probably still be fairly hot. A rock sized one would probably have cut a hole in the car body and exploded the windshield.

If it hit the windshield the passenger or driver would have a rock sized hole in their chest.

[tete]

Originally Posted by SilverGS

At 4am tryiing to find a potential meteorite along the highway even if you stopped right away is not likely IMO.

Meteories won't fetch you that much unless they are very rare. Even then it may only fetch you a couple thousand not millions. Most common ones may only get you 50 bucks.

Yup. Common stony meteorites have a general value of $1/gram. That can vary - the larger ones will go for more just because it's rare to find larger meteorites. My dad found a 8.2 kilo one about 15 years ago and it sold for more than the $1/gram due to its size and rarity.

[Pinner]

A meteor that size hitting a car would be similar to being hit with a grenade.

Maybe you hit an Owl.

If it's cloudy tonight, try again another night.

Summertime meteors, occasionally flitting across your line of sight are especially noticeable between mid-July and the third week of August. And between Aug. 3 and 15, there are no fewer than six different minor displays that are active.

[wooohooo]

Sad, looks like it's going to rain all day and be cloudy.