Perseid Meteor Shower

[Bugman]

Did anyone else get up early this morning or stay up really late last night to see the Perseid meteor shower? Frances and I stumbled out of bed at 3:00 AM, checked that we could see stars from our deck and drove about 20 minutes to a remote area of the Clemson Univ. Experimental Farm near here. There was some ground fog and haze so the horizon had quite a bit of light pollution, but the key part of the sky was gorgeous. Our two folding lounge chairs were perfect and we lay back, watched the sky and talked for nearly two hours. We saw quite a few meteors streak across the sky. Some were almost faint ghosts in our peripheral vision that made you doubt whether you say anything except the other one thought they saw it too. Others were glorious streaks painted across a large arc of sky. Some actually had a secondary flare of the trail after burnout. It was fun listening to the various night sounds, too.

We wished for the clear, unlightpolluted sky we saw one night somewhere between Valle and Williams, AZ in March 2003. There wasn't a cloud in the sky or a night light anywhere to the horizon.

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[ddmoit]

I was out well after midnight on what promised to be a dark, clear night. But, I couldn't see a thing through some low fog cover that blew off Lake Michigan, just 3/4 of a mile from my home.

A few years back, I witnessed the shower at its best. I was camping in Central Indiana (Turkey Run State Park). A buddy of mine faithfully executed his assigned duty of rousting everybody from their tents at 3:30 AM. We laid on top of picnic tables in a clearing and saw quite a show. The favorites were the ones with tails that split into two or more pieces before burning out.

[JTG]

I set an alarm but slept thru it or it didn't go off. Not sure which.
A few years ago Patti and I drove out into the country to watch and were treated to a night when that filled with shooting stars. One right after another and sometimes more than one.
Glad to hear that someone got to enjoy them this year.
JTG

[Tool Guy - Kg]

Got to see a few around midnight or so. Too tard to stay up later. :yawn:

[Marge]

Wiley and I saw the 2003 show at the cabin. Put sleeping bags in the back of the truck and enjoyed quite the view in the dark, clear night of the mountains. Boy, it was cold that night!

[dufus]

Saw a few good ones last night - one that looked more like a streaking comet than a meteor. Appeared about 11:30 PM (eastern) going north to south in center sky. It was the largest and brightest meteor I've ever seen, covering about 1/4 of the visible sky.

My family was lying out on the trampoline at 2 AM early this morning just looking at the meteor shower. There's a history with it for us.

25 years ago, my wife and I were watching the meteor shower, but back then she was just my friend. We just watched and talked about nothing and everything. A day or so later, we were engaged. :crazy:

Now, it's been 25 years and August 12-14 has great memories for us. We always watch for the meteor showers every year. :corn:

[dgunnels]

Too hot, muggy, and buggy to see them this year. We always make sure to catch the Leonids in November. We've seem some spectaular shows. The best however, was the first night Bobby used his observatory. It just happened to coincide with the Leonids that year. Champagne for celebrating the achievement of his life-long dream wasn't bad either.

[kate42]

:wave:

I wanted to watch it, but there are too many Oak trees for me to see the sky. I'm lucky if I can find a star or two at night. There is a good view by the bay, but there are too many mosquitos http://www.millan.net/minimations/smileys/mosquitosmiley.gif (http://www.millan.net)that just love me ( at least something loves me :D ).

[ddmoit]

C'mon, Kathleen. Can't you feel the love of your fellow forum mates? ;)

[kate42]

:wave:

Can't you feel the love of your fellow forum mates?

Now I do.http://www.millan.net/minimations/smileys/feeldaluvsmiley.gif (http://www.millan.net) :)