The 2012 Perseid meteor shower is expected to peak on Sunday night, August 12. Lake Afton Public Observatory is inviting shower-watchers to come set up lawn chairs or blankets outside the observatory from 11 p.m. Sunday to about 2 a.m. Monday. (Bring your bug spray.)
It’s free to watch for shooting stars outside the observatory. If you would like to go inside to look through the 16″ telescope, you’ll pay admission, but you can save $1 off the regular price of admission that night if you bring along something related to a shower: soap, umbrella, etc.
Some Wichita-area students are starting school next week and parents will be loathe to let them stay up until 2 a.m.! If you can’t make it out to Lake Afton Sunday night, you might be able to spot some shooting stars on any clear night this week.
NASA will show a live feed of the meteor shower from a camera in Huntsville, Alabama, although I’m certain that it’s better to see it in person.
The meteors, which appear as shooting stars in the night sky, are bits of ice and dust from the Swift-Tuttle comet’s debris field. Each year in August, the Earth passes through the debris, causing the meteor shower. It’s named Perseid because the meteors appear to radiate out from the constellation Perseus. Source: http://www.nasa.gov/connect/chat/perseids_2012.html
