Cluing in last night that the Perseids were peaking, I dragged Pramas out onto our little postage stamp-sized rectangle of back lawn with a blanket and we laid out in the dark, gazing skyward in the hope of seeing some of the meteor activity.
I'd heard there could be up to one meteor per minute visible if we were lucky. Unfortunately, the best direction for gazing was to the east, which is not the direction we chose. Too much residual light from the city, but to the west it's fairly dark thanks to the air field and the freeway over the hill (instead of swaths of housing developments).
It was peaceful to lay out in the yard in the warm air, but we only managed to catch six or seven meteors before the one persistent night-bug buzzing around Chris's ear drove him into the house. Without someone else out in the yard with me, I started to dose off and I'm sure I missed some great stuff. I jolted from the beginnings of sleep when I heard what sounded like an angry rodent of some sort far too close for my comfort. There are rats and coons in our neighborhood and I have no desire to meet them on their nightly rounds.
Maybe next year I'll plan to watch the Perseids at their peak instead of stumbling out into the back yard almost by accident. I'm betting there would be fantastic viewing out on the Peninsula instead of in the heart of the city, for example.
I'd heard there could be up to one meteor per minute visible if we were lucky. Unfortunately, the best direction for gazing was to the east, which is not the direction we chose. Too much residual light from the city, but to the west it's fairly dark thanks to the air field and the freeway over the hill (instead of swaths of housing developments).
It was peaceful to lay out in the yard in the warm air, but we only managed to catch six or seven meteors before the one persistent night-bug buzzing around Chris's ear drove him into the house. Without someone else out in the yard with me, I started to dose off and I'm sure I missed some great stuff. I jolted from the beginnings of sleep when I heard what sounded like an angry rodent of some sort far too close for my comfort. There are rats and coons in our neighborhood and I have no desire to meet them on their nightly rounds.
Maybe next year I'll plan to watch the Perseids at their peak instead of stumbling out into the back yard almost by accident. I'm betting there would be fantastic viewing out on the Peninsula instead of in the heart of the city, for example.
Too overcast to see Perseids in Baltimore yesterday; I could barely make out Venus and the Moon. We saw a handful of early Perseids last week at Cape Hatteras though, and one year Mary vows that we'll book our vacation there to coincide with a meteor shower, not a hurricane.
I sat out on my balcony the past two nights hoping to see some Perseids. Unfortunately my apartment has a western exposure ... and that points me straight in a line with a suburban downtown, an airport landing approach, and (in the distance) Seattle herself.
I DID manage to see two fireballs. Unfortunately, BOTH of them were on Wednesday night, and within a few minutes of each other.
If there's some Perseid Viewing Trip in the offing next year, I'd certainly love to hear about it.