Bill Myers - August 11, 2007

Look up in the sky - its a shooting star!

This is off topic, but something that might be of interest.

This weekend is the Perseid meteor shower, and Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights could be the best viewing of shooting stars (meteors) in many years.

According to the experts, the best time to view will start around 11:00PM each night. Assuming a clear sky and no city lights, you might see hundreds of meteors per hour.

Tip: set your digital camera up on a tripod, point it to a dark section of the sky, and shoot long shutter exposures.

Do the same with a camcorder - just set it to record until the tape runs out.

Then check in the morning to see what you have. You might end up with pretty spectacular photos.

For more details visit: http://www.earthsky.org/radioshows/51469/p

Update: Someone did record the meteor shower with their camcorder, and uploaded the video to YouTube. It became the most watched video of the day on August 13, 2007. View it at http://youtube.com/watch?v=6XTBrYWrey0