UFO reports likely to increase, according to researchers at UFORC.com

Christopher Montgomery is a UFO researcher.  He is keeping his eyes on the sky. During the Perseid meteor shower, there is an increase in the number of people that are watching the sky, both night and day. Montgomery is the Executive Director of a global reporting network. Chris has been studying the UFO mystery for every 40 years. "What people don't know, is that they may see something other than a meteor, like a UFO. They are usually caught by surprise when they do, because they are not expecting it. They'll contact the center, after being referred to us by the police department or other civilian agencies.  The Perseid meteor event always seems to generate an increase in the number of sightings and that will result in an increase in the amount of UFO reports that we receive at the center"

We checked out Sky and Telescope magazine for more information.  "If you trace each meteor's direction of flight backward far enough across the sky, you'll find that this imaginary line crosses a spot in the constellation Perseus, near Cassiopeia. This is the shower's radiant, the perspective point from which all the Perseids would appear to come if you could see them approaching from the far distance. The radiant is low in the north-northeast before midnight and rises higher in the northeast during the early-morning hours."

The Perseids meteoroids begin as tiny particles that range from sand to pea-size bits of rocky debris shed by the comet Swift Tuttle during its annual orbit around the sun. They become visible when the Earth's orbit causes it to cross the comet's path. Scientists believe that the trail of debris, which is left by the comet, stretches for hundreds of millions of miles.

TIPS: There are several things to remember when meteor watching. The brightness of the moon and  streetlights will interfere with your observation of the less spectacular ones. The Perseid shower will be visible for a couple of weeks.  They will reach their peak late this Friday and Saturday night, August 11-12 and 12-13 (for viewers in North America). The rate of activity should pick up after midnight until the first light of dawn. They will be most visible just before sunrise.  

This prolific shower of space debris is most visible in the Northern Hemisphere. This shower of meteoroids will remain visible for the couple of weeks, however. The radiant is low or below the horizon for countries in the Southern Hemisphere, which includes New Zealand, South Africa and Australia which makes it virtually impossible to watch.

AOL has a fairly extensive library of research articles. The information featured there includes what to look for when buying a telescope. See the "Archive of Astronomy Articles" on the web.

Photo source: http://www.robertreeves.com/meteors.htm

____________________________
*ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Additional information can be found at the following website:
http://www.space.com/spacewatch/
http://uforc.com/sol.html