PERSEIDS PARTY, by Terry Moseley

Ed: Terry Moseley of the Irish Astronomical Association writes -

PERSEIDS PARTY

This year's Perseid Meteors are blessed with very favourable conditions: Maximum is predicted for 21h on 12 August, and the Moon will be only 2 days old, so won't interfere. The radiant is circumpolar from Ireland, and so plenty of meteors should be seen any time after the sky gets dark that evening. In fact some Perseids can be seen any night from early August until about the 19th, but they are most frequent on the days around maximum.

The radiant lies roughly between Perseus and Cassiopeia, and so is rising in the NE each evening as twilight ends, but the meteors can be seen in any part of the sky. Many are bright, and some leave persistent 'trains' lasting a few seconds or so. In good conditions you can see an average of about one Perseid per minute.

The Irish Astronomical Association will be holding a 'Perseid Party' at Delamont Country Park, near Killyleagh, Co Down, just off the A22 between Killyleagh and Downpatrick, on the evening of Thursday 12th, or if the weather is bad that evening, on the following night, Friday 13th, assuming it's not a washout too! This will be a 'Fry-up', rather than a BBQ, so bring any sort of a gas or spirit cooker you may have, plus frying pan, and whatever grub & drinks you want. Also your own plates, cups/mugs, cutlery etc.

For more details and updates re the weather decision for Thursday or Friday night, see http://www.irishastro.org .

Ed: Once in my youth, I had a wonderful evening viewing the Perseid show from the coast of France. Here's hoping the weather is kind to the IAA on this occasion!