[pct-l] Perseid Meteors

[Mike Saenz]

Actually, they're not far away. Meteors become visible when the burn as
they enter the earth's atmosphere. Our atmosphere is less than 20 miles
deep!
So when you see a meteor directly overhead, it's less than 20 miles away
from you.

But if you see one closer to the horizon, it could be hundreds of miles
away. But that's still awfully close in space distance terms.

More spectacular and rarer are "fireballs", meteors that keep burning as
it gets to the lowest levels of the atmosphere. These you can see the
smoke trail left behind and actually hear the sizzle before it burns
out!

I've seen two of these! Once when I was a kid and once not too long ago
while driving from Palm Desert back to Riverside at night. The last one
I saw burning and it got brighter and brighter as it fell. Just before
it burned out, it left a smoke trail. I saw it start high in the sky,
and when it started to smoke, it fell below the silhouette of the San
Jacinto mountains beyond! Very cool.


Michael Saenz ,  Associate Partner
McLarand    Vasquez    Emsiek   &   Partners,   Inc.
A r c h i t e c t u r e  |  P l a n n i n g  |  I n t e r i o r s
MVE          MVE    Institutional         MVE    S t u d i o
w  w  w   .   m  v  e   -   a  r  c  h  i  t  e  c  t  s   .   c  o m

-----Original Message-----
From: Craig Stanton [mailto:craigstanton at mac.com] 
Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2006 4:56 PM
To: pct-l at backcountry.net
Cc: Mike Saenz
Subject: RE: [pct-l] Perseid Meteors

Not many of the meteors stray into the southern hemisphere so I'm going
to have to wait until next year. I went out a few years ago to try to
see them here, but it was a bit of a let down, just the usual one every
few minutes. I want to see a storm!

Seeing satellites always amazes me. They're so tiny and soooooo fara
way, yet they can be seen with the naked eye, that's pretty impressive.



On Friday, July 28, 2006, at 11:51AM, Mike Saenz
<msaenz at mve-architects.com> wrote:

>Best time to view this annual phenomena is between 2am and 4am (the 
>Perseid constellation doesn't rise until 11pm). If I'm on the trail, 
>I'm so deep in sleep, it would take one of the meteors to hit me to 
>wake me up...
>
>And you don't have to wait until next year! It's an annual shower. 
>It'll happen again THIS August 12! ;)
>
>
>But unless you're looking for spectacular fireworks, just about any 
>night in the wilderness you can see an average of one meteor every 5 
>minutes or so.
>I like to pick out satellites as they pass overhead. While looking for 
>these, I end up seeing plenty of meteors!
>
>
>Michael Saenz ,  Associate Partner
>McLarand    Vasquez    Emsiek   &   Partners,   Inc.
>A r c h i t e c t u r e  |  P l a n n i n g  |  I n t e r i o r s
>MVE          MVE    Institutional         MVE    S t u d i o
>w  w  w   .   m  v  e   -   a  r  c  h  i  t  e  c  t  s   .   c  o m
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net
>[mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net] On Behalf Of Craig Stanton
>Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2006 4:41 PM
>To: pct-l at backcountry.net
>Subject: [pct-l] Perseid Meteors
>
>I like looking at the stars. I made the choice to buy my new tent 
>partly based on the all-mesh top so that I could still star gaze when I

>need to be inside to avoid the mosquito feeding freenzy. The Perseids 
>are expected to hit around August 12th next year and I intend to have a

>good seat. Have other people been look in previous years? I think being

>out in the wilderness would give excellent views, is it really 
>spectacular or is the trail still too close to light pollution? Anyone 
>ever bothered to take pictures?
>
>~Craig
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