Viewing times for the meteor shower tonight?

Question

I just found out about the meteor shower that is supposed to be going on tonight August 12. I live in Arkansas...Trumann to be exact, and was wanting to know the best times to view the shower.

Answer 1

The peak was this morning but you should still be able to see some residual meteors over the next few nights. Keep looking up.

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. When 2009 gets here, change the date on this link and you will have the new 2009 listing too. This way you wont miss any meteor showers ever again. Enjoy!

Answer 2

Meteor showers are not short-term events, they can last for days or even weeks.

The Perseid meteor shower occurs between July 17 and August 24, with the peak at 3:04 UTC on Aug 12. Most meteor showers have peaks that last at least a few nights.

As long as you are at a dark location away from bright lights, and you simply watch the sky (look towards the constellation Perseus in the northern sky, but meteors can be seen over the entire sky) you should see many meteors any night this week. The estimate of the number of meteors during the peak for the Perseids is around 60 per hour.

The best time to view any meteor shower is after local midnight.