The 2004 Perseid
Meteor Shower Meteoroids in space since the Civil War
will spice up |
June 25, 2004: The annual Perseid meteor shower is coming, and forecasters say it could be unusually good. The shower begins, gently, in mid-July when Earth enters the outskirts of a cloud of debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle. Dust-sized meteoroids hitting the atmosphere will streak across the night sky, at first only a sprinkling, just a few each night, but the rate will build.
Right: Photographer Nathalie Dautel caught this Perseid streaking through the Milky Way in 2001. This is a good year for Perseids, for two reasons, explains Bill Cooke of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. First, the Moon is new in mid-August; moonlight won't spoil the show. Second, in addition to the usual shower on August 12th, there might be an extra surge of meteors on August 11th caused by a filament of dust newly drifting across Earth's orbit. The filament, like all the rest of the dust in the Perseid cloud, comes from Comet Swift-Tuttle. The difference is, the filament is relatively young. It boiled off the comet during the Civil War, in 1862. Other dust in the cloud is older (perhaps thousands of years old), more dispersed, and responsible for the month-long shower that peaks on August 12th. The filament will eventually disperse, too, but for now it retains some of its original ribbon-shape.
(Note: Perseids favor northern latitudes. Because of the way Comet Swift-Tuttle's orbit is tilted, its dust falls on Earth's northern hemisphere. Meteors stream out of the constellation Perseus, which is barely visible south of the equator.) Later that night, observers in North America can see the "traditional Perseid peak" caused by the older dust from Swift-Tuttle. "Expect 40 to 60 meteors per hour, some of them bright," says Cooke. The best time to look for these "traditional Perseids" is during the hours before dawn on Thursday, August 12th. Set your alarm for 2 o'clock in the morning; go outside; lie down on a sleeping bag with your toes pointed northeast. You'll soon see meteors racing along the Milky Way. Above: The pre-dawn sky on Aug. 12th. The Perseid radiant is denoted by a red dot. While you're looking for meteors, check out Venus and the crescent Moon, too, near the horizon. Can't wake up at 2 a.m.? Try looking around 9 or 10 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 11th when Perseus is hanging low in the eastern sky. You won't see many meteors then, but the ones you do see could be memorable. Shooting stars that emerge from the horizon and streak horizontally through the atmosphere are called "Earthgrazers." Slow and colorful Earthgrazers are a good target for city dwellers, because they are so bright. Dust from Comet Swift-Tuttle hits Earth. What about the comet itself?
Right: 19th century astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli. [More] The idea that comets and asteroids might threaten our planet was not widely accepted until the 1980s. Then astronomers began to worry. Comet Swift-Tuttle is big, about the same size as the asteroid that wiped out dinosaurs 65 million years ago, and as recently as 1992 it seemed that Swift-Tuttle might strike Earth in the year 2126. New data and calculations show otherwise, though. There's no danger of a collision for at least a millennium and probably much longer. So relax. Enjoy the show. Perseids are harmless … and beautiful.
This is an unusually good year to see for yourself |
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Production Editor: Dr. Tony Phillips |
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What about the comet that's supposed to hit the Earth in 130 years? -- (Astronomical Society of the Pacific) Not long ago, astronomers wondered if Comet Swift-Tuttle might one day collide with Earth. Periodic Comet Swift-Tuttle -- (APOD) Comet Swift-Tuttle is the largest object known to make repeated passes near the Earth. Perseids Photo Gallery -- (SpaceWeather.com) 3D Orbit -- (JPL) view the orbit of comet Swift-Tuttle from any angle, and find out where the comet is now. 109P/Swift-Tuttle -- (Cometography.com) History of the Perseid Meteor Shower -- (Gary Kronk) |
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