TonyG

Just in case the clouds do part and we get clear skies over the UK, the Perseid meteor shower is due to take place over the next 2 nights. Peak is supposed to be tomorrow, but there may be a second peak tonight.
Look either overhead, or towards the south/south east for spotting meteors.

OllyK

Somebody is running backwards in time

minor_threat

The Perseids are a nice broad shower with good activity over several days, but the peak will be on the evening of August 12th. The predicted peak time is 0920 Universal Time (GMT!), but again, the shower is so broad that you should see plenty of meteors between peak time and the beginning of dawn twilight (the typical maximum rate is around 60 per hour, but that can vary from 30 per hour to over 100 per hour depending on conditions). The moon is a waning crescent (about 12% illuminated), so it shouldn't be a huge factor in drowning them out with moonlight.

This year the shower may well be a notch better than in previous years - Jupiter gravitationally preturbs the meteor stream towards the Earth, so we may encounter the denser parts of the stream. We may be in for better than average activity, especially in Europe - similar conditions were present in 1992, 1980, 1968. Especially the Perseids of 1980 were particularly impressive, judging by reports (I didn't see them, I was only 5 at the time!).

Activity forecasts are uncertain, so it will be interesting to see what happens. We may well see nothing . . . crap weather and UK light pollution . . . but you never know.

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

I'll be out watching on top of the hills in a nice dark location, weather permitting

minor_threat

Cool scoobychick! I'll be lying on the lawn in the garden, at least this is one event that doesn't require 90 minutes of setting up astronomy equipment and wiring laptops/cameras/scopes from the house. I hope the skies are clear.

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

Lol, Yep! I'll take my bins (to have a look at other stuff whilst waiting) but leave all the rest at home. Lightweight astronomy, perfect

Graz

Saw about half a dozen on Saturday whilst watching the sky in a darkend location One took ages to burn up, it was visible for a good few seconds.

So if that's just the beginning it should be a good'un this time

minor_threat

I hope so Graz, early reports look very promising but the the weather/cloud forecast for the North West where I live is pox-ridden.

bigsinky

same for Northern Ireland, but i will still have my Karimat and 10x50s ready

cheers

big sinky

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

We went out last night but the cloud increased as it got dark so we gave up after an hour and came home

minor_threat

Typical isn't it?! Whenever we're in an ideal position to view transits, eclipses and meteor showers the clouds roll in! Fingers crossed for tonight though.

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

We had a fantastic view of the sky too, an uninterrupted vista from way up high on the tops from north, through east and to the south. Oh well, at least I'll be reunited with my telescope this weekend, I haven't used it since I moved oop north and couldn't fit it in the car

TonyG

Lots of grey cloud last night Will try again tonight, but the weather doesn't look promising.

Dark Blue Mark

Anyone know of a good book with theories on what the **** we're doing here / planets etc?!

Still blows my mind that space is infinite and we occupy a pin ***** of it all

MB

minor_threat

LOL! What telescope have you got, a big Dobsonian or Newt? I've got a Meade LX200 so being a compact SCT is sits on the back seat and always wears its seat belt. The optics aren't as good as my old Newtonian but being able to transport it easily was worth the sacrifice!

Still overcast here.

TonyG

Mine's a 6 inch Newtonian (TAL/Siberia). Weighs more than I do. Never had it in the back of my Scooby yet, but I *think* it will fit.

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

Mmmm, LX200 eh?, My dream telescope I've got a Celestron Newt, it's my first scope and was a birthday pressie last year. The trouble is I've really got into the whole astronomy thing and want something bigger and better already

I'd strap it in the back seat if I had one but my car's a two seater

TonyG

Mark, I don't think one book's going to cover all of that...

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

Lol @ Tony It really blew my mind when I saw my first galaxy (Andromeda) in September last year when I first got my telescope set up, it all started to slowly dawn on me just how big space is, it still blows my mind now which I think is why the whole astronomy thing is so addictive. Looking at Saturn through my telescope for the first time was awesome as is the moon (with moon filter on) every time I look at it

Dark Blue Mark

Tony, just interested in people's theories rather than an explaination

MB

minor_threat

LOL! Yeah Tony, Russian optics are heavy but very good! If transporting my scope around I normally lay it on the back seat and feed the seatbelts around it, there's far less chance of your mirrors getting out of collimation this way.

minor_threat

Agh, you've caught the aperture bug! This is akin to the "modification bug" scooby owners get! That's a cool birthday pressie scoobychick. In telescopes aperture rules, from 4" to 8" there's a huge difference in clarity and detail, from 8" to 12" the difference isn't very pronounced. A steady tripod/mount is more important than aperture though. If you ever decide to replace your scope let me know and I'll point you in the right direction.

My LX200 is a classic model, just like my scooby! I didn't really see the point in having the GPS on a telescope, it's mega-expensive for something that takes 15 minutes of beeping to find a satellite and then align itself (by which time I've done it myself)! I used to have a Newt on a GEM Mount but got into astrophotography and prospective comet hunting (!) so I went for an LX200 because it lends itself better to astrophotography and the fork mount is easier to use with tonnes of equipment racked onto it!

Having a 2-seater car is a fine excuse for not being able to take your scope into the field.

minor_threat

You're doing really well if you can see M31 (Andromeda), you must have a nice dark location to observe from!

What initially blew my mind was the scale of things as well. If I were to put my two fists on the desk in front of me (in Southport), precisely an inch apart, and say one was the moon and one was the sun, the nearest star would be in Bognor Regis! Space is mind-blowingly big.

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

My previous observing location down south was pretty good but my new one is better, I now live on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales so there's even less light pollution but I haven't had my telescope up here to take advantage of it yet. I was on a narrowboat in the Leicestershire countryside at the weekend and could see M31 quite well with my bins Light pollution makes such a difference.

The best sky I've seen since getting hooked on astronomy was during Rally GB in Wales last year. We arrived at a stage up in the wilds of Brechfa before dawn and the sky was tremendous.

I really, really fancy going on one of those astronomy holidays to somewhere really dark where you can use huge telescopes that someone else has paid for

Graz

Starting to clear a bit here after some thunder and rain. I really hope it's clear tonight

minor_threat

The edge of the Yorkshire Dales is a fab place to observe from. There are so few places left in the UK from which you can see the Milky Way, it's depressing!

Light pollution is horrendous, it used to be easier to manage but now we have an unpleasant mix of low and high pressure sodium lighting along with halogen and neon lights, it's nearly impossible to filter out.

La Palma is supposed to be brilliant for astronomy holidays, very dark skies, 3 world class observatories and plenty of B&Bs which have their own selection of scopes for you to use.

minor_threat

LOL! It's just started to thunder here!

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

Yep thundering here too, with heavy rain Don't think i'll be seeing much of the Perseids tonight

Nicci

Last night was clear, so I stood outside around 10pm and could only see stars and aeroplanes (usually get to see a couple at least).

I spoke to my parents in Essex and they didn't see anything either.

I got up at 2.30am and looked outside but it was cloudy.

What happened last night?

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

There's a nice Perseid piccy from Japan on theAstronomy Picture Of The Day site

Nicci, the sky here was a thick sheet of cloud so I didn't see anything