Best Perseid observing tips for 2020

While the #Perseids aren't the most prolific meteor shower, it is the best one to see during warm weather - at least for the northern hemisphere. Learn how to best observe the Perseid meteor shower and optimize your viewing conditions so you can see the most meteors possible. See what's up in the night sky every week with "Eyes on the Sky" videos, astronomy made easy.

[@johngiromini5745]

I need to acquire a folding lounge chair... Keep'em coming, David!

[@Littlewing6was9]

I saw the biggest light streak across the sky from east to west on Saturday night about 10:30pm . It was blue and white and breathtakingly beautiful ☄️

[@Eyesonthesky]

Excellent! Probably an early Perseid.

[@linkedwinters]

That moment when *forcast clouds for the next week*

[@Eyesonthesky]

Right? I have my fingers crossed that my forecast changes for the better.

[@linkedwinters]

@@Eyesonthesky Yeah, me too. Unfortunately, either way, I've gone and booked the wrong date. All the sites were saying that it peaked on the 12th - 13th but now everything is telling me that it peaks on the 11th - 12th. I didn't have much hope of clear skies as I live in the United Kingdom where there are forcast thunderstorms across the country, but it's still a disappointing sight to open the weather app and see that it's raining and thunderstorming all night. I hope you have better luck than me haha

[@theflannelfisherman8329]

I was viewing Arcturus a couple nights ago and knew nothing about this event. Just so happened to catch my first shooting star. Needless to say I’m pretty excited for tonight

[@koolkutz7]

Hoping for clear skies here in the UK, gonna give it a try. Thanks for the tips :-)

[@MrKeithcl]

Hopefully clear skies tonight. I always get the day/night off from work for any celestial event.

[@asktheastronauts9367]

I believe you meant Swift-Tuttle instead of Temple-Tuttle for the comet.

[@Eyesonthesky]

Oh crud... yes, I totally did. Thank you for the correction!

[@user-jy5cm9mx7k]

Спасибо. Thanks from Russia for your videos.

[@ryugagod7140]

@eyesonthesky I like your videos and I learnt a lot from them. I had a few questions if you could help. I have a celestron powerseeker 114eq telescope with 4.49" aperture and 1:8 focal ratio with 4mm eyepiece and 3x Barlow. Would I be able to observe Saturn's rings? Yesterday night I tried to view Mars but even with highest zoom, I was able to see only a very small red dot through the telescope. Any suggestions to help me view Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

[@Eyesonthesky]

www.eyesonthesky.com/Resources/Seetheplanetsbetter.aspx

[@ariessweety8883]

Uh dress warm? In August? Um no thanks lol its 11 at night here in Kansas and still a 🔥87° 😥 Love the channel btw💗

[@book3100]

Mosquitos too lol.

[@Eyesonthesky]

I'm in Chicago, so not too far east of you. I understand, some nights its warm. Last week we were down to a low of 48 though. So sometimes it can get chilly, unexpectedly.

[@batshitlazy]

I want that blanket.

[@AlpheccaMeridiana]

watching this after looking at the perseids

[@sahilarora7162]

Forecast says Thunderstorm for a straight week.. Btw love your videos

[@Eyesonthesky]

Keep checking outside. Forecasts tend to miss those breaks in the clouds.

[@sahilarora7162]

@@Eyesonthesky I'll try 🤞🤞🤞

[@chxxxi3444]

Hey, today (8/14/20) at around 2 am I had a look at North to the stars (I live in Stuttgart, Germany). By around 3.20 am I saw an object below the moon and below the star of Aldebaran located at Taurus, which seemed to get brighter and brighter. It was just about one or two seconds later where this object was at the brightness of mars or Venus and just suddenly disappeared. The object was white. With the help of social media and my night sky application I tried to understand what this big bright object was (due to my heavy „possible“ speculations) but didn’t find any explanation or rather any reference to its appearance. After that I saw just around 5 smaller objects, who travelled by the speed of a plane from Polaris to the east, disappearing at the horizon. Those objects kept their brightness and went very slow compared to a shooting star through the night sky. In this case I‘m very sure that those were meteorites but the slow speed and their near, constant appearance kept me thinking. Can somebody explain what this first „sight“ and the second appearance of those object was/were? I’d really appreciate that :) (Probably for you guys this stuff seems very easily to explain, sorry for my probably foolish mention of those occurrences)

[@Eyesonthesky]

First one very well may have been an Iridium flare (these are well known, so you can look that up). The 5 you saw going by Polaris very well could have been SpaceX satellites. They are launched 50 to 60 at a time, and very often quite a few appear together in the sky.

[@chxxxi3444]

Eyes on the Sky Thanks for your answer, this really helps🙏🏼 Btw your vids helped me a lot in understanding the night sky. They are very informative and well made. Greetings from Germany✌🏼

[@cosmictywlite]

Hey Dave, where did get that cool space Blanket ! I want one ,lol !cheers Mark

[@Eyesonthesky]

I was speaking at an REI (outdoor gear retailer) event last year and a Subaru rep was there. He sent me a blanket with the star map and Subaru logo.

[@codtetrisexpertlevelgamer3231]

24degreesC now,outside .idk if it’ll be cold by 2 am .it’s 23:39 nauなう

[@codtetrisexpertlevelgamer3231]

reason why i’m at the Grands 。will stay awake,will be visible from 2AM till break of dawn,Northeast Japan

[@johnnybravo8582]

Yeah! In Poland I have clear Sky in night 12/13 August! Thx for tips! Like of course

[@Eyesonthesky]

Perfect! I hope you see a lot of them!

[@priyotosh4915]

Please give some names or examples of screen capturing softwares.

[@sahilarora7162]

Is Night Of 14 is still considered as peak night?

[@codtetrisexpertlevelgamer3231]

yessss!my uncle is going with us with his open car 😁we got to find dark place. Grands lives in the city. it’s too bright in here

[@roymaldonado8586]

I'm confused is it Tuesday night or Wednesday night?

[@luuveon]

Roy Maldonado the morning of August 12th

[@joseantoniogarridosolaz5578]

I Love It ❤️❤️🌠🌠🌟🌌🌌.

[@Eyesonthesky]

Thank you Jose!

[@7wt]

Lol warm beverage. I’m in AZ and it will be about 98 degrees over night. Cold beer for me!

[@Eyesonthesky]

Yeah, I got called out on that by someone in Kansas too. You people in those really, REALLY hot areas! I need to remember that time I went to Laredo TX in the middle of summer and it "cooled down" to something like 85F at night, lol. Thanks for the reminder - I'll do better in future videos! :D

[@FosterFarmsOk]

kids and i have been having fun seeing a ton of artificial satellites lately. will be fun to see some meteors. the mosquitoes here in Tulsa Ok have been terrible. makes it not so fun to be out at night.

[@NickNoblePhotography]

And find a place without thunder storms!

[@codtetrisexpertlevelgamer3231]

will there be sounds?like,fast comet noises?my cousins are too noisy i might miss the happy comet noises

[@Eyesonthesky]

It is not likely that you will hear any sound from the meteors, no.

[@codtetrisexpertlevelgamer3231]

Eyes on the Sky thnks😁i thought they’re like lightnings

[@bennet2137]

Hey I have another question! Maybe someone can help... why are Jupiter and Saturn rising in the south-east and set in the south-west, whereas mars goes from straight east to west?

[@Eyesonthesky]

The change in position of the ecliptic over the night, probably. Saturn and Jupiter rose earlier, when the ecliptic is lower. Mars rises later and the ecliptic's position has moved. Check it out on Stellarium - turn the ecliptic on and change the time to see the movement.

[@bennet2137]

Eyes on the Sky where do I find the ecliptic option? I can only find two grids, equator and azimuth. Thanks for the help!

[@Eyesonthesky]

@@bennet2137 select the "Sky and Viewing Options" window from the pop-out toolbar on the left. At the top, select the "Markings" tab. Then select the "Ecliptic of date" checkmark box, and it will appear. Hope that helps!

[@drrach1]

Can i see perseid meteor shower in city?

[@Eyesonthesky]

Yes, but you will only see the very brightest ones, so not many.

[@davidhesselmann6726]

Stargate T-Shirt? 😍

[@Eyesonthesky]

No, it's a 2017 solar eclipse t-shirt I found in KY on the way to my eclipse site in TN.

[@drrach1]

What time to wake up at india

[@Eyesonthesky]

Stay up until midnight or 1 am.

[@christophermichaud]

So thaaaaaat's how you pronounce it

[@mike14991498]

Turn off the moon.