by VirtualAstro | Aug 11, 2010
For the Next 36 hours the world will discover, observe, image and hopefully enjoy meteors, wonders of the night sky and the Perseid Meteor Shower on Twitter.
As well as looking up and enjoying the night sky, you can have some fun and contribute to science, by tweeting your meteor observations so they appear on a map, or by submitting a British Astronomical Association observing form for more detailed observations.
#Meteorwatch has started in the UK and will continue to run around the world closing back in the UK 36 hours later. Anyone can join in and enjoy the #Meteorwatch, no matter where you are or who you are.
@VirtualAstro, @Astronomy2009UK, @Britastro and many others will tweet, so join in, tweet, use the hashtag #Meteorwatch, post images and join in with science if you can and most of all have fun!
Major Update!
Meteorwatch.org was suspended by the company that hosted it due to heavy traffic on the 12th August, and they wanted lots of Money to continue hosting the site, as it became more and more popular. Unfortunately we couldn't pay the silly fees they wanted so we had no more site, a disaster!
Luckily for Meteorwatch, the Royal Astronomical Society and Redstation.com came to the rescue and have provided a server and hosting for this web site. The show can now go on!
Many, many, thanks to the Royal Astronomical Society and Redstation.com for their assistance.
If you see a meteor tweet it for a bit of fun and see it on the Meteor Map:
Tweet the hashtag #meteorwatch, your postcode, your country and, optionally, the meteor count – (you can use country codes such as UK or US).
Here are some examples of valid tweets:
- #meteorwatch E15 uk
- #meteorwatch SW5 0TR uk 1
- #meteorwatch 55210 us 4
- #meteorwatch 34013 ita 10
- #meteorwatch sydney australia 32
- #meteorwatch paris france
- #meteorwatch berkley CA
- #meteorwatch 3011 ch 8
The list of three letter country codes (ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes) can be found here
by Steve Owens | Aug 9, 2010
The BAA Meteor Section encourages amateurs to become involved in meteor astronomy through active observation, section meetings, and contributions to the section newsletter and other publications of the BAA.
Occasional reports are published in the Journal of the BAA. An account of the activity of the section each year can be found in the Report of the Meteor Section, part of the Association's Annual Report.
The aims of the BAA Meteor Section are:
Collection of visual, telescopic, photographic, video and radio observations of meteor activity on a routine basis, at all times of the year and not only when major shower activity is expected. The data add to a long-term archive of information covering activity, allowing long-term trends to be studied. Photographic and video observations yield valuable positional and orbital data. The Section also collects fireball reports for the British Fireball Survey (originally a joint exercise with the now defunct Artificial Satellite Section)
See also our extensive guide on How to Observe Meteors
by VirtualAstro | Aug 9, 2010
The Perseid meteor shower is named for the constellation Perseus, from where the meteors appear to originate. The Perseid meteor shower is one of the most prolific showers of the year, with an average peak rate of 50- 80 streaks per hour, in darker skies. Meteors are the visible paths of vaporizing space debris as it encounters our planet’s atmosphere.
This debris, known as meteoroids, ranges in size from dust particles to small pebbles, and occasionally larger stones. As a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it is heated by friction, which vaporizes the debris and causes the gases (both atmospheric and meteoritic) to glow. Most meteoroids disintegrate at about 30-60 miles above the surface, but become visible at about 40-75 miles.
Meteoroids orbit the Sun just like planets, comets, and asteroids. They travel at speeds of about 26 mps, but, when combined with Earth’s orbital speed of about 18 mps, enter our atmosphere at a velocity rate of about 44 mps. The meteoroids associated with the Perseid meteor shower enter the Earth’s atmosphere at about 37 mps. Our planet encounters space debris every day, thus meteors are actually visible all year long.
Occasionally, Earth passes through thicker patches of debris, known as streams or swarms, resulting in a meteor “shower.” Meteoroid streams, or swarms, have orbits similar to those of comets, thus are believed to be fields of comet debris resulting from a comet’s closing approach of the Sun.
The Perseid meteor shower has been associated with the ancient debris field of Comet 109/Swift-Tuttle. Comet Swift-Tuttle leaves new debris each time it passes our planet – every 130 years. This debris field has the appearance of several streams, each measuring millions of miles long.
The Swift-Tuttle debris streams are comprised of small widely-spaced particles. Most of the meteoroids are about the size of sand grains, but some may be as large as small pebbles. With a core diameter of about 26km, comet Swift-Tuttle is the largest known object, and one of the oldest comets, to regularly pass closely to our planet.
Comet Swift-Tuttle was originally recorded by Chinese astronomers in 69 BC and 188AD, but was formally discovered in 1862, by Lewis Swift on July 16, and by Horace Parnell Tuttle on July 19. Three others also independently discovered this comet: Dudley Observatory’s Thomas Simons; Antonio Pacinotti and Carlo Toussaint from Florence, Italy; and Danish Astronomer Hans Schjellerup. Comet Swift-Tuttle was “rediscovered” in 1992 by Tsuruhiko Kiuchi, ten years after its expected return of 1982.
That year, the comet reached 5th magnitude, making it easily visible through binoculars. Comet Swift-Tuttle will pass within 14-million-miles of our planet when it next returns in 2126. Scientists believe that the comet will be even brighter than the 1992 pass, and likely readily visible to even unaided eyes.
Astronomers once believed that comet Swift-Tuttle might, in the relatively near future, pass close enough to actually impact Earth or the Moon. While continued observations and recalculations have dispelled that concern for at least the next 2,000 years, this comet remains one of the greatest known solar system threats to our planet.
Source Material: NASA Worldbook JPL’s Solar System Dynamics Gary Kronk’s Cometography Astronomical Society of the Pacific Space.com Wikipedia
By Tavi Greiner. See more from Tavi at her site A Sky Full of Stars and follow her on Twitter @TaviGreiner
by VirtualAstro | Aug 6, 2010
There is nothing in this world that captures the imagination the same way as a meteor. It’s an experience that is embedded in our very psyche. We all know to wish upon a falling star. Think of how often you see a painting of a star with a swooping tail – it’s theme that is found in advertising, on video games, in movies, or anyplace you want to show the beauty of a star with the energy of motion.
Seeing the streak of a meteor rapidly flashing across the sky is not the same as what is usually displayed in popular culture. A meteor can be such a quick flash that you may not be sure you really saw it, or it can be a fireball that is unmistakable and beautiful. It is a sight that is best seen live.
I’ve looked forward to the 12th and 13th of August for years – the Perseid meteor shower peaks on those days. Being able to predict a high number of meteors over a short period of time gives us a big advantage of having a successful night observing meteors. My local weather tends to be nice with warm nights, and the shower is big enough you have extra chances in case one the first night is cloudy.
I want to make an invitation to everyone world wide to join me and thousands of others for Meteorwatch. The event will officially run from the 11th through the 14th of August. The objective of Meteorwatch is to give you the best chance possible to see a meteor in person. If your area is clouded over, we will share our photographs and observations from around the world.
Observing meteors is very simple to do – find the darkest place you can find and be prepared to look up for a while. No extra equipment is required, you don’t have to leave the city – although it will certainly help if you can. If you are in a very dark area it is likely you’ll see a meteor at least every half hour or so and much more if you’re experienced or up later at night. If you’ve never seen a meteor before, we will share plenty of tips to help you discover one live. If you’re an experienced observer, please share your experiences, observations and photos. You can begin as soon as it gets dark, but for best results you’ll want to be out late – I’ve had best success between 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning. With Meteorwatch being a world wide event, there will always be someone online to help out.
Best of all, Meteorwatch is a fun event where you’ll find hundreds of people having a great time together in person and online.
Watch for more news on https://meteorwatch.org or follow http://twitter.com/VirtualAstro for more details.
Mark Zaugg is an amateur astronomer and enthusiast who has introduced dozens of people to the excitement of seeing a meteor in person. You can find him at http://twitter.com/Zarquil
by VirtualAstro | Aug 4, 2010
The interactive Twitter Meteor Map is Here.
Now you will be able to tweet if you have seen a meteor straight from twitter, On your computer or from your phone, just like you would for any normal tweet and see your observations appear on the “Meteor Map” in real-time.
The meteor map couldn’t be simpler to use: Just send a normal tweet with a little bit of information (More instructions at the bottom of the map page) and your results will appear on the map.
As well as looking up, enjoying the night sky with us and seeing meteors, maybe for the first time? We encourage everyone to send tweets telling us when they see meteors (shooting stars) and contribute to science and have some fun at the same time.
The results of the meteor map will be shared with organisations such as the British Astronomical Association and your results will contribute to serious science, so we can learn more about our solar system.
