Perseid meteor shower makes impressive start ...

Clear skies over these next few nights and enough personal stamina to stay awake will afford a view of one of the flashiest meteor displays of the year. The annual Perseid Meteor Shower has been slowly ramping up in intensity since this past weekend and viewers from around the world have been delighted by views of these bright streaks of light darting across the night sky. [ On Saturday, Ernõ Berkó from Ludányhalaszi, Hungary witnessed a Perseid that he estimated at magnitude -10, or more than 100 times brighter than the planet Venus (which, along with Mars and Saturn currently adorns the southwest sky right after sunset). While the emphasis was on observing the sky with telescopes, many participants also enjoyed the cutting a path across the sky. "On Saturday night, one bolide (exploding meteor) lit up the field," ( shows where to look to see the meteor shower.) Peak due this week The peak of this year's Perseids is forecast (for North America) to come during the afternoon hours on Thursday, which means that greatest number of meteors will probably be seen late that night into the predawn hours of Friday. And even late on Friday night into early Saturday hourly rates will still be respectable, though probably numbering about one-quarter to one-half of the numbers seen on the peak night. Observing tips Astronomers offer this advice: Get as far away from bright city lights as you can, although a few of the brightest meteors may be glimpsed even over the sooty curtain of large, light polluted metropolitan areas. Any lawn or rooftop can serve as an observatory when it comes to meteor watching. As the night progresses, the stars of Perseus, which lies low to the northeast horizon before midnight, will slowly climb progressively higher into the sky. During the first part of the night, the meteors may appear to describe rather long paths across the heavens; For those who sleep through the Perseids, the next really prominent meteor shower will come in mid-December, the time of the Geminid Meteors.