Perseids and More in August

Hello to all our OTAstro list! My August What's Up is Up on the JPL and NASA websites. It's about the Perseid Meteor Shower mostly, and is aimed at the general public - with some good easy to understand graphics aimed at the general public. Here is the place where they are archived permanently (this is the link to bookmark), on the JPL Education page http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/amateurastronomy/index.html This link includes video formats that are useful for astronomy clubs, classrooms, museums and planetariums, plus this month I added links to some lunar and meteor educational material - these are aimed at grades 4-12. The best time to view the Perseids will be Monday morning before dawn, but that's not really convenient for most people. Saturday night/Sunday Morning will yield many meteors especially after 2 a.m. , with horizon skimming meteors at midnight, before Perseus rises very high above the horizon. If you go someplace dark, you'll see more than you will in the LA Basin, and if you can't get away, just put some space between you and the light sources - a side of a house or trees can help some. You will see them everywhere, but if you mentally trace the shooting stars to their "source" you'll be looking in the direction of Perseus, in the NE Sky. Local dark sky spots will be up I-5 at the Templin Highway turnoff, Mt. Pinos - on Frazier Peak, and up towards Mt. Wilson - but there is still a lot of LA glow up here. The Desert East of us affords darker and drier skies. The Andromeda Society of Yucca Valley hosts a monthly star party at Joshua Tree National Park's Hidden Valley picnic area Saturday Aug 11 - http://www.andromedasociety.org/ The Pomona Valley Amateur Astronomers will be at JTNP's cottonwood Springs campground Aug 11. Later on in August, Mojo speaks to the club's general meeting at Harvey Mudd College on the 31st. http://www.pvaa.us/calendarpage.asp The Peninsula Astronomy club of Northern California will be up at Glacier Point at Yosemite this weekend - if you could possibly get up there, it's magical for meteors. Mojo and I will be there the following weekend with one of our Northern California Astronomy clubs - the San Jose Astronomical Association. Most weekends, some club is hosting free star parties for the public at Glacier Point. http://www.aanc-astronomy.org/yosemite.html If you observe the Perseids and would like to contribute your observations, here's an ongoing meteor observing program you might be interested in: http://aurigids.seti.org/ . I'll be participating in this airborne mission observing the Perseids and Aurigids with the same group Mojo and I have worked with for almost 10 years counting the exciting meteor showers. Oh, and since we'll be at Yosemite on our usual sidewalk astronomy weekend of the 17th 18th August, check the OTAstro website http://www.otastro.org/ for dates and details. I think our usual group will be in Monrovia without us on Saturday the 18th, but probably not in Pasadena on the 17th. Jane and Mojo -- Jane Houston Jones Senior Outreach Specialist, Cassini Program JPL - 4800 Oak Grove Drive, MS 230-205 Pasadena, CA 91109 818-393-6435 jane.h.jones(a)jpl.nasa.gov Cassini SOC http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm What's Up? http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/amateurastronomy/index.html