If I live in the Midwest US, what direction should I look to see the Perseids Meteor Shower?

Question

I live in the Midwest (Des Moines, Iowa). In what direction should I look to view the Perseids meteor shower? I've heard it will pretty much generate from one point in the sky? Any help would be nice. Thanks!

Answer 1

The meteors will becoming in from the east but they will fill the whole sky.  They will not be in any one set location.

Answer 2

East toward the Perseus Constellation -- download a free star chart at:

http://www.skymaps.com

Answer 3

http://www.imo.net/calendar/2008

This is the calendar site for the meteor showers for 2008 from the International Meteor Organization. Everything you ever wanted to know about meteor showers is on this site. Enjoy!

Peak is about 4:00am Mountain time Monday night-Tuesday morning.  Look towards the North East

Answer 4

They can appear anywhere in the sky.  The radiant (point in the sky where they will appear to streak "from") will rise in the northeast in late evening.  The best time is when the radiant is closer to your zenith (directly overhead).  This will be late-late-late night, or early morning, my suggestion is to start looking around 2 am.  although you can see them all night, your sightings per hour will greatly increase when you have less horizon obscuring potential meteors.

If you're familiar with the constellations, look for cassieopia ("w" shaped star pattern) and perseus (which lookls like a "dolphin" or a "seal" with it's nose up in the air, to me...  the greeks saw it as a hero that decapitated medusa...  maybe i'm just not that imaginative)  If you see a meteor, "trace" it's point of origin.  If it came from that section of sky, it was most likely a perseid.