Us old hands realize this, Daniel. But with limited time, we still like to hedge our bets. I'm sure most of us know what to expect. I'll be in the back yard before and after the peak on nights I don't have to be in bed before sunset. I'm glad you're keeping the general public informed of the nature of a meteor stream, however. Keep up the good work. On Jul 30, 2013 4:56 PM, "daniel turner" <outwest112@yahoo.com> wrote:
Meteor showers, like comets, tend to be over promoted as an observing event.
I've had people show up at sunset on the evening of a shower peak and ask "where are the meteors?" Then fifteen minutes later, their attention span expires and they are back in their car leaving as they phone all their friends telling them not to bother looking.
These people have an expectation that the shower is an single point in time event and they expect it to be over in less time than a episode of their favorite TV show. The fact is that you can see Perseid and Leonid meteors for a week before and after the supposed "peak". And the peaks themselves are almost never noticeably more memorable than the rest of the shower.
Like any astronomy observation, patience and perseverance are required to appreciate what's going on. So switch to decaf, slow down and spend some time to enjoy the event over it's full timespan. Even if the "peak" comes at noon local time, that just means you have two equally good evenings on either side of it. And a week before and after the peak you can notice the shower, if you can find the time to spend on it.
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