The 2005 Perseid Meteor Shower & Mars

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2...rseids2005.htm

The 2005 Perseid Meteor Shower
NASA Science News
July 22, 2005

Mars joins the Perseid meteor shower for a beautiful display on August
12th.

July 22, 2005: Got a calendar? Circle this date: Friday, August 12th.
Next to the circle write "before sunrise" and "Meteors!" Attach all of
the above to your refrigerator in plain view so you won't miss the 2005
Perseid meteor shower.

The Perseids come every year, beginning in late July and stretching
into
August. Sky watchers outdoors at the right time can see colorful
fireballs, occasional outbursts and, almost always, long hours of
gracefully streaking meteors. Among the many nights of the shower,
there
is always one night that is best. This year: August 12th.

The source of the shower is Comet Swift-Tuttle. Although the comet is
nowhere near Earth, the comet's wide tail does intersect Earth's orbit.
We glide through it every year in July and August. Tiny bits of comet
dust hit Earth's atmosphere traveling 132,000 mph. At that speed, even
a
tiny smidgen of dust makes a vivid streak of light--a meteor--when it
disintegrates. The shower is most intense when Earth is in the dustiest
part of the tail.

Perseid meteors fly out of the constellation Perseus, hence their name.
The best time to watch is during the hours before sunrise when Perseus
is high in the sky: sky map images/perseids2005/skymap_north.gif.
Between 2 a.m. and dawn on August 12th, if you get away from city
lights, you could see hundreds of meteors. Scouts, this is a good time
to go camping!

Really, it could hardly be better. The Perseids come on a warm summer
night. (Note: This is a northern hemisphere shower.) Other familiar
meteor showers like the Leonids of November require a parka to enjoy.
All you need for Perseids are light pajamas.

And there's a bonus: Mars.

In the constellation Aries, right beside Perseus, Mars is shining like
a
bright red star. Step outside before sunrise, look east, and you'll
find
you have a hard time taking your eyes off Mars. There's something
bewitching about it, maybe the red color or perhaps the fact that it
doesn't twinkle like a true star. It's steady. You stare at Mars and it
stares right back.

Earth and Mars are converging for a close encounter on October 30th.
Consider August 12th a preview. Mars already outshines every star in
the
night sky, and it's getting brighter every night. If you like August,
you'll love October.

And you will like August. Picture this: It's four in the morning. The
sky is dark. The breeze is pleasant. Mars is beaming down from the east
while meteors flit across the sky.

Maybe you should go circle the calendar again.

Editor's Notes: (1) The Perseids are a northern hemisphere meteor
shower. Southerners can see Perseids, too, but at greatly reduced
rates.
(2) All times mentioned in this story are local, so, e.g., "2 a.m."
means 2 o'clock in the morning in your time zone.