Perseid Shower

Written on August 17, 2007 by Cindy

Hi Everybody! I just wondered how many of you managed to get out and view the wonderful Perseid Metero shower last Sunday/Monday? I did manage to get to a local astronomy event, which was held in the north of the island (Malta), in a place where there is miniml light pollution. Some friends were visiting at the time, and one of them, who hails from Dover New Hampshire,  had never seen a meteor shower, so it was a new experience for her.

The Astronomy Group set up three telescopes at a site overlooking the sea in the northeast of the island. One telescope faced west so visitors were able to see Jupiter clrearly with one of its moons casting a shadow across its surface. The other two faced northeast in order to view the constellation of Perseus, and more specifically the double cluster in Perseus.

At around midnight the number of meteors you could see trailing across the sky from the direction of north to the east was amazing. Many of us were lying on blankets on the ground enoying the ‘light show’ as it was so pretty. Being such a small island there is a lot of light pollution, but the location was excellent because the stars set against the Milky Way was something else. The last time I saw the Milky Way so clearly was one summer, when I was about ten years old, and there was a blackout.

All this has made me want to go out and buy my first telescope…. : )

Did anybody else see the meteor shower?

Cindy x

Posted in Sky Events