By Sue Bruni - Express News Staff
It’s almost time for the annual celestial light show of falling stars known as the Perseid Meteor Shower. Beginning about 9:30 p.m. on Aug. 12 and growing brighter and more frequent toward the pre-sunrise hours of Aug. 13, an average of 60 brightly falling streams of light per hour should be filling up the skies.The Perseid Meteor Shower is named after the constellation Perseus. The source of the meteor shower originates approximately from the same location as that constellation, but the meteors are actually debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle. Each year, the earth rotates through a residual cloud of debris from the Swift-Tuttle comet. And technically, although they are called meteors, they are really only small specks of debris, usually only as big as a grain of sand. Traveling at speeds of 71 kilometers per second, though, these small specks of meteor produce a spectacular light show year after year.
These falling stars have been documented for almost 2,000 years. They were referred to as the “Tears of St. Lawrence” by ancient Europeans when they witnessed the same phenomenon in their atmosphere. And around the same time each year, these meteor showers are witnessed across Europe and North America, although Canada tends to see them far less by mid-July.
“You’re actually in a very good position in the Adirondack region,” said senior editor of Astronomy.com, Rich Talcott. “There won’t be a moon this year, and since the mountains are naturally less inundated with artificial light, you may even be able to see closer to 100 particles per hour – if the night sky is clear enough,” he clarified.
According to Talcott, “while viewable by the naked eye, the Perseid Meteor Shower is best seen from somewhere dark, away from any source of light, and with the moon out of your field of vision. Try a pair of binoculars or a camera with a telescopic lens,” he suggested.
Each year, when the falling stars are at their most brilliant, stargazers around the globe try to get the best view and to photograph the event.
For amateurs trying to get a good image, professional photographer Jeffrey Chapman offered the following advice, “Your digital camera should be put on a tripod to steady the shot, and do a time exposure, but not too long. Do it too long and you’ll end up with nothing but noise. Too short and you’ll get nothing at all.”
The height of meteor activity in the Adirondack area should be on Aug. 13, between the hours of 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. If you can position yourself in a good location and be prepared to take multiple random shots quickly, you just might catch some really good images. In essence, you might be able to “catch a falling star.”
Ferrick hosting star-gazing party
Pat Ferrick will host a meteor get-together again this year on Thursday night, Aug. 12 at the Bisby Road Site, which is more or less across the road from the entrance to Nick’s Lake.
He says, “It should be a really good year for observing the Perseid meteor shower, since there will be (almost) no moonlight to interfere. I will be there from dusk onward. The viewing will get better and better the later you stay up, but plenty of meteors should be visible from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. If it’s a clear night, I will probably be there until morning.
“I’ve found that a good way to explain what people should bring/wear etc. is to treat the event as they would a fireworks display. Munchies, blankets, outdoor chairs or lounges, binoculars and especially warm clothing are all recommended.
We’ll be spotting satellites and doing basic astronomy instruction as well, of course.”