The Night Sky Guy

Meteor Activity on the Rise

Have you seen any shooting stars yet? Reports are beginning to come in that the Perseids meteors are starting to slam into Earth in greater numbers and the show has begun. Meteor rates as of Saturday are around 30 per hour, and things will only get better as we reach peak time, late Tuesday night.Skywatchers say they are seeing sporadic clusters of meteors with reports across Canada of fireballs seen the last couple of nights. These are baseball to basketball sized space rocks that pepper the persied cloud of sand-sized particles and vapourize high in our atmosphere while putting on a great fireworks show- they look like something is really on fire and even produce a lingering smoke trail- quite a sight!. If your skies are clear tonight why not hunt down a few shooting stars. They will surely whet your appetite for Tuesday night when the real downpour begins.

Here is a short videotape of the overhead sky during the Perseids in 2007. It will give you an idea of what these shooting stars look like. Very pretty!

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