Best bets for the Perseids meteor shower

Coming up this week, the best kind of show - it's fun, it's free and the number of stars rates it out of this world.

It's the annual Perseids meteor shower, when the Earth floats through the debris trail left by Comet Swift-Tuttle and burns all that dust to bits. The biggest problem you'll face is finding a dark sky, away from city lights that obscure the shooting stars.

"The best place to go is to get out of the city," said George Reynolds, a "solar system ambassador" for NASA and secretary of the Back Bay Amateur Astronomers. Easier said than done, perhaps.

City and state parks have few lights, but they also close at dusk. So you may have to look for back roads out in the country and be careful not to trespass.

The Perseids often put on the best meteor show of the year, sometimes up to 50 or more meteors an hour on peak nights. This year's peak will be between midnight and dawn Aug. 12 and 13. Unfortunately, the moon will also be full then, and it could outshine many of the fainter meteors.

Your best bet is to look at the night sky this week instead. There may be fewer meteors flying around, but the moon won't compete with them, so they'll be easier to see. Starting Monday, the moon begins creeping back into the predawn sky until, by Aug. 12, it is shining all night.

According to EarthSky.org, the Perseids tend to increase in number as midnight approaches, with the best viewing in the early, early morning - like 1, 2 or 3 a.m. If you can stay up that late - or get up that early - you can watch comet dust, some pieces probably no larger than grains of sand, burn up as it encounters Earth's atmosphere.

Meteor watching is not difficult, other than staying awake. Reynolds recommends a chair or, even better, a chaise longue so you can lie back and watch the sky without hurting your neck. You might also want a blanket or sweater, because it can get cool if you're not moving around; a bottle of water or thermos of coffee; and a flashlight covered with red cellophane so you don't ruin your night vision. Reynolds also suggests cookies.

"They say the Perseids may have some bright ones this year, but you never know," Reynolds said. "Amateur astronomers are among the most optimistic people in the world. We always hope for good weather, clear weather, dark skies."

So make yourself comfortable and look up. Move your eyes around. Perseid meteors may appear in any part of the sky, so it doesn't matter which way you gaze.

Another tip from The Pilot's outdoors writer, Lee Tolliver: The Marsh Causeway to Knott's Island, just south of the Virginia-North Carolina line, is a great place to find dark sky. There's a small parking lot that used to be for a forestry tower.

Reynolds and Tolliver also recommend the boat ramps around Back Bay, particularly the ones at the Princess Anne Waterfowl Management Area (end of Back Bay Landing Road) and the aptly named Back Bay ramp (end of Mill Landing Road). Both roads intersect Princess Anne Road (Secondary State Route 615) south of Pungo.

Tolliver recalls many a happy night watching meteor showers at those locations.

"Amazing stuff," he said. "Another world so close to this one."

Diane Tennant, (757) 446-2478, diane.tennant@pilotonline.com