Document text
Meteor shower is visible this week By PETER WONG A different kind of late-night show will be in the air -- not on it -- when the Perseid meteor shower is most active late Thursday and early Friday. "It's a pretty good year for observing it, because the moon is new and won't be shining in the way," said Richard Moeschl of Ashland, an astronomer, lecturer and author. The Perseid meteor shower comes from rocky debris being shed by the Swift-Tuttle Comet as it orbits the sun. Earth's path around the sun intersects these particles in mid-August. As the particles pass through the atmosphere, they vaporize and their trails leave white streaks known as meteors. Moeschl and Gary Sprague, a physical science teacher who runs the planetarium at North Medford High School, agree on when the shower is at its peak. But they differ slightly about where it can best be seen. They say the best time to see it is in the hours after midnight Thursday, when the shower will peak, until dawn Friday. Estimates vary, but one or more meteors can fall every minute. Fewer Perseids are expected earlier or later in the week. "The farther from the city and the more remote you can get, the darker and more open is the sky for viewing," Sprague said. He recommends Stewart State Park, Lost Creek Lake, Applegate Lake or Mount Ashland as suitable viewing points. Both say that if the night is clear, people do not need special viewing equipment such as binoculars or a telescope. "Equipment is not going to help you because it will confine your field of vision," Moeschl said. "Your equipment might be a Thermos bottle and a jacket." Sprague said a camera set to a timed exposure can capture the meteor trails on film. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA