Perseid Meteor Shower

[sfby]

I stood in the garden last night (about 11 - perhaps a bit early?) to see if I could spot any signs of the meteor shower.

I didn't see what I expected (i.e. very quick, long streaks of light) - but I did see 3 separate bright orange dots which took about 20-30 seconds to travel from one horizon to the other (south - north).

Could these be part of the Perseids, or is it likely to be something else?

Thanks

[Kiki-frog]

That wasn't a meteor shower. It sounds more like Chinese lanterns to me

[belrec]

The lights were probably satellites in Earth orbit.

To see meteors you need to make sure it is dark, 11pm is OK. and you need to give it a good 15-30 mins minimum to see any really.

Unfortunately, due to the over hype of newsreports people expect fireworks :-(.

However, it is still an amazing experience to see a bit of debris that has come from outer space hit the Earth's atmosphere.

Youmay see a few tonight but they will be getting few and far between now, clear skies x

[sfby]

Ah - satellites - hadn't occurred to me you could see those without binoculars etc.

I'll have a look at Star Walk before venturing out next time - thanks.

[Octavius]

The orange light is the reflections off their solar panels. You may also get to see the ISS and Hubble with the naked eye as well if you're really lucky. I use 'Night Sky' on my iphone for watching them track around the globe - its great for seeing these and of course the planets and constellations that are in your sky at the time.