This weekend is the peak of the perseids meteor shower for 2010. It is the most visible of the annual showers, and this year should be very good as the moon should set before midnight leaving a very dark sky to see the show.
It peaks on the 12th-13th, or Thursday and Friday night. You obviously want to be in a dark area, away from city lights -- like out at your cabins. Best viewing is after midnight, direction for northern hemisphere folks will be NorthEast - where the perseus the hero constellation is. Try not to use alot of light, but a flashlight can be wrapped with either a red filter or just red saran wrap. The red light does not dilate pupils so it does not interfere with your "night vision".
If you get good weather, you can expect to see between 60 and 100 meteors per hour. Hope people get the chance to be ready for this event and take advantage of it. Take your kids, invite friends and family.
http://www.chiff.com/science/perseids.htm
http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/earthskys-meteor-shower-guide
http://www.examiner.com/x-27474-Astronomy-Examiner~y2010m8d8-Perseid-meteor-shower-peaks-August-1213-2010-Moon-conditions-ideal-for-spectacular-meteor-shower
Thanks Muldoon
Thanks Muldoon. I will run around covering Sassy's 30 or so solar path lights and have a look. :)
We saw only one last night before it started to haze up
I didn't see any but am not sure where I should be looking - any clues for Yosemite Ca area? I didn't get the instructions posted on line - just point me N,S,W or E best you can. :)
north to north east
What I heard is that you will have to look west. Toward the ocean [waiting]
I saw one last night. Was basicly straight up at around 10:30 PM.
For some reason I saw way more on Wednesday pm around 11 than late last night from 12-1am here in the Pacific NW. Will be trying again late tonight after midnight. Too much light pollution here...can't wait to move!
Looks like next weekend (Saturday August 11th) is Perseids meteor shower peak weekend for 2012. It should peak on Saturay night, (which is really convenient for folks who have to travel to their place in the rural areas). It also looks like a thumbnail waning crescent moon, that doesn't rise until 1am or so, which is also excellent news as that sliver of moon will not light up the sky and distract from the meteor shower.
You have a week to plan, get your red lights (does not effect night vision), and have a nighttime picnic and watch the north east sky for the meteor shower. Take your families if they have never seen one.
You can get more specific location information here
http://www.spacedex.com/perseids/
Thanks for the heads up muldoon. We'll be at our cabin and hoping for clear skies. This is the time of year we have more cloudy than clear nights. Rain welcome though.