DarkSlinky

Posts Tagged ‘Perseids’

The comet, Swift-Tuttle, takes 130 years to orbit the sun.  When it passes closer to the sun, it leaves behind a trail of rock and dust particles.  It last swept through the inner solar system in 1992.

Twice every year the Earths path crosses with the trail of rock and dust left behind by Swift-Tuttle (See picture below: ‘Perseids meteor shower’).  The particles of the trail, most of which are smaller than a grain of sand, create a spectacular display when they burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere.  This is called the Perseids meteor shower.

Meteor showers usually get their names from their ‘radiant’, which is the point they appear to come from in the sky.  The Perseids meteor shower appears to come from the constellation Perseus (See picture below: ‘Perseids meteor shower’), hence, it was named accordingly.

This particular meteor shower has been observed for about 2,000 years.  Most of the debris the Earth passes through every year is about 1,000 years old.

The Perseids meteor shower can be seen from all over the world from mid-July to mid-August every year.  Due to the orbit of Swift-Tuttle, the Perseids meteor shower is easier to see from the Northern hemisphere and is most active from 8 August to 14 August, usually peaking on 12 August.  During its peak, you may see 60 – 80 meteors per hour.

Perseids meteor shower.

For more information, check out these websites:

Perseids:  2009.
Perseids:  NASA.
Perseids:  History.
2009 Meteor Showers.

References:

Wikipedia:  Perseids.
ScienceRay:  Perseids.
ScienceRay:  Meteor showers.

Slept really badly again last night, despite taking Blackmores Tranquil Night (I think that’s what it’s called). Thank you very much to Madonna for recommending these to me.  I’m giving it another go tonight. Anyway, last night I had a nightmare about a freaky amusement park that had a historical display much like the Pompeii exhibit I saw in Melbourne.  Emma was also stealing chips from the gift shop. That makes me laugh though, it’s so random?

I was meant to get up early so Nicki and I could go shopping at Chermside, but we both ended up ‘sleeping’ in.  I arrived at his place at about 2pm, had some lunch and went shopping at Morayfield.  We had a really fun day.  I bought a few little crafty things so I can work on a surprise for Liam.

Nicki and I decided we’re going to make dolls with Lynette.  It’s very exciting, although I’m worried I’ll suck at it.

Liam and I had a nice night. He surprised me by coming over with dinner and dessert.  We finished watching the third season of The IT Crowd (maybe I’ll do a review of it soon..) and then waited until 1am to see the Perseids meteor shower in the sky, which we couldn’t see anyway because of the gibbous moon.  For those interested in the Perseids meteor shower I thought I might conduct some research and do a little write-up on it.

Now I’m not particularly religious, but there’s a quote from the Bible that’s inspiring me at the moment.

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
(Matt 6: 34)

Another day is looming.

Time to try and sleep.

<3 DarkSlinky.