The Perseid meteors are reported to be really good viewing this year.
As I said a few years ago in anticipation of a similar nice Perseid meteor shower:
Concerned that you don’t know enough astronomy? No idea in any amount of detail where these constellations are? Don’t worry! Basically, all you really have to do is find a place where the sky is reasonably dark, look [North] East, and wait. As your eyes acclimatise to the dark, and with a bit of luck, you’ll see some, and zero in on where to look.
There’s more at the NASA news site, from which I borrowed the image above. The peak is around these few nights (12th August or so) and there’s no moon, so if you’ve got some dark (ish) skies and a bit of patience, you should see some. Yes, this includes viewers in cities. Don’t be pessimistic. You might be able to find patches of dark enough sky, especially if you can go near to an edge of the city, or a park, and look away from the bulk of the lights. It does not have to be perfect viewing conditions, and be sure to let your eyes get used to conditions, and pick a patch of sky, relax your eyes, and don’t keep flitting them around to see things…. the meteors usually come to you, actually. You don’t need to find Perseus exactly… during a big shower, you can look where ever you like, more or less.
I’ll try to see some on the way back from Artwalk and other fun downtown activities tonight. This is what I did for some fun late night Los Angeles viewing in 2007. Don’t know if such access is available still, and not encouraging anyone to break any rules. Just sayin’.
Enjoy!
-cvj
I’ll have to watch for some Perseid meteors tonight. Thanks for the tip. I’m new to communicating by computer, and I hope I’m not being inappropriate, but what I really want to talk to you about is the concept of a god and whether or not science provides for the possible existence of any such being. I believe that the nature of and possible existence of a god is intimately connected to the nature of and possible existence of four dimensional space-time. I believe that Einstein is referring to precisely this type of connection, or lack thereof, when he states; “The human mind is unable to conceive of the four dimensions, so how can it conceive of a God before whom a thousand years and a thousand dimensions are as one.” If I understand Einstein correctly, he is here defining ‘God’ as a conscious being who is able to enjoy timeless, four dimensional, and all dimensional access to the universe. According to my interpretation of Einstein’s statement, he is not necessarily claiming that a ‘God’ actually exists, only that we must first be able to conceive of the four dimensions before we can even begin to assess whether or not a God actually exists or anything whatsoever about the nature of that God. Finally I conclude that if the four dimensions can exist at all, they must ultimately derive from the height of three dimensional evolution. Unless unimaginably advanced counterparts of us in our [most probably] extremely distant future succeed in accessing four dimensional existence, then four dimensional existence cannot substantially exist at all except as an abstract mathematical postulate devoid of content; only as a mere intellectual concept with no basis in reality. The article of my faith rests in my belief that we are all destined for timeless, all dimensional access to the universe. Einstein once said that, “Individual existence impresses him [Einstein himself or any discerning individual] as a sort of prison and he wishes to experience the universe as a single, significant whole.” For me the good news is that I believe we are all connected to a transcendental consciousness which is able to free itself from all of the individual prisons in order to rise unfettered and to experience the universe as a single, significant whole. At that point, the religious quests of all of humanity will have been fulfilled beyond our wildest dreams because, in effect, we shall have become our own God. Your thoughts?
…and not completely covered by clouds. 🙁