Does everybody understand that when meteor showers occur, they can be seen from anywhere on Earth?
Just thought I'd ask, since there seems to be a lot of confusion.
2009-08-12T04:39:07Z
Of course, there is always the exception of polar regions where it does not get dark enough to see or where the Earth's tilt blocks most of them.
2009-08-12T04:48:26Z
Cat - A meteor shower is just a big cloud of rocks and dust that the Earth is passing through. So it just looks like a night with more meteors than normal. It can be seen from just about anywhere.
2009-08-12T07:20:41Z
Hi Dave - Your patience is admirable. If I go to another category to seek info, I usually use the search function first.
2009-08-12T07:22:05Z
AK - I think there were more questions than meteors. That's why I posted this.
2009-08-12T07:27:08Z
Siyuan - I am referring to all meteor showers. The Perseids are actually a little less universal in their visibility because the radiant is farther from the ecliptic than most - which reduces their visibility slightly for those in far southern latitudes (Geoff pointed this out recently, and he was correct as usual). But in most populated regions of the Earth, the Perseids can be seen whenever it's dark, and mostly after midnight.
2009-08-12T07:45:46Z
Moose - I like the meteor bath analogy - very descriptive, even if slightly insufficient in terms of describing a preferred incoming direction.
Moose2009-08-12T05:16:08Z
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exacly... It's not like solar eclipses which depend on what angle you are from the moon and the sun... The Earth gets a meteor bath... Everyone on the night side and some on the day side for some of the big meteors - for as long as this bath lasts - sees more meteors than usual...
No. Not everyone does. It seems like common knowledge to people who have loved astronomy for a long time, but even those people had to learn that specific detail at some point in time.
A similar flurry of questions about the Perseids came up last year too, when I was brand new to this site. I was often the only one to answer (I figure a lot of people got sick of the repeating question, and started ingnoring them after a couple of hours). It was fine with me that people didn't know much about it, and that I could be helpful on the topic... the 2008 Perseids are actually the main reason why I got my Top Contributo badge in the first place. I must have answered 60 Perseid quesitons on the night of and after the peak. winning best answer on probably half of them, simply because I was the only answer.
I suppose if I went into the "Cars - Maitenence" and asked a lot of questions about things I really have no idea about, the mechanics would tire of my lack of understanding. Luckily for them, I don't think Yahoo will ever post a story on thier front page about "You need to fix your transmission tonight, or you'll have to wait until next year to experience this (particular) event."
I'm curious to see if this year's Leonids will get the hype that the Perseids always do. (Everyone loves the Perseids, as most of the populated places on the planet have their warm summer nights). I've read a few articles about a "mini-storm" for the Leonids this year, but these types of predictions are generally open for interpretation.
My favorite shower is actually the Geminids, but as other Minnesotans (or anyone who has a cold winter, for that matter) knows, sometimes the show is cut short because of discomfort.
Obviously, not everyone does. The level of scientific illiteracy revealed by the questions asked in this forum and others is appalling. There are actually people who wonder where the rest of the moon goes when it isn't in its full phase! Something needs to be done about science education in the US, or we are done for.