Meteor shower, tonight 12/8/09

[Annpan]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8197303.stm

Just incase you didn't already know.

I'm hoping to see some in an hour or so, clear skys here tonight

[red]

saw some yesterday - cloudy tonight.

i recommend blankie and pillows.. lying side by side looking at the stars

[citizentwiglet]

Can't believe the sky is actually clear here, Annpan! Here's hoping it lasts. I'm going to have to go stand in the football field, I think, as we have a streetlamp right out the back and the front of the hovel.

Does it actually 'start' at 2am, or is that just when it's at its best? I don't think I can stay awake that long......

[Annpan]

I went out at the back of ten with a cup of tea and a blankie - we were up in the 'orchard' where the chooks free-range so we didn't lie on the ground We sat on a bench for 45 minutes (a bench with no back, so our necks got rather sore) I saw 1, and 2 out of the corner of my eye that I couldn't say were definitely meteors and not my eyes playing tricks on me.

OH claims he saw 6!!!!... yeah right no seriously, I am sure he did I was just always looking the other way

I did see a satellite too, and I've never seen one of them before

[grannymags]

Cloudy here. Couldn't see a thing!
It was the second day of the fireworks competition
this evening as well. Hope the cloud didn't spoil it too much.

Reminds me of the eclipse 10 years ago. We all went
up to the Hoe and had to watch on a screen because
the clouds obliterated everything!

Maggie x

[citizentwiglet]

Annpan, I've been going outside since about the same time, and I thought I saw something too...but, as you say, I wasn't sure if it was just tricks of the eye / insects or whatever.

I saw one about 15 years ago when I was living in a caravan on the Gower, it was the most amazing thing (other than Hale Bop) I've seen in the sky - it certainly couldn't be put down to 'tricks of the eyes', it was phenomenal - so clear - 'shooting stars' looking exactly how they would look in a children's book, IYSWIM, and so many of them you couldn't keep track. But then, I think there are maybe only about 3 lamp-posts on the whole of the Gower, so it was very, very dark........

Do you get much light pollution out your way? When we're driving down past there at night, it always seems to be much darker than we're used to, but we are stuck in the middle of Lanarkshire's famed 'blanket of lights'.....

[Annpan]

Yes CT, I think there are 10 or so streetlights in our village and we walked right up to the back of the garden, about 90m away from the house, so yes, very dark but we could see by moonlight.

BTW We saw the moon rise... at first we thought it was a big fire on a distant hill It was red/orange and very bright as it rose in the east, 45 mins later it was much higher and whiter... I have never seen the moon rise before ... I never really thought about it before.

[Odsox]

The main peak was yesterday afternoon about 2 o'clock.
Being a geeky person I don't look at them, I bounce my radio waves off the ionised trails.
Great fun and a great time waster, spent all day doing it.

[Odsox]

I did see a satellite too, and I've never seen one of them before

Still in geeky mode, I talk through those too Ann, including talking to the guys on the space station .. and Mir before they trashed it.
Meteors peaked at probably 10 per minute a couple of times yesterday afternoon.

[citizentwiglet]

Thank you Odsox, I now don't feel so much of a plonkette for falling asleep on the sofa and not waking up until 6am - I'd missed the best anyway!

Annpan, the moon was AMAZING early on last night, wasn't it?

[Millymollymandy]

We completely forgot, and last night was one of those rare occasions when I didn't fall asleep on the sofa in front of the telly so I could have gone outside after dark to have a look!

Ho well will just console myself with the fact that I saw Halleys Comet in 1984!

[Cloud]

Not too late to look tonight. Just went out and saw four Perseid and a sporadic (plus two polar orbital satellites) all within the space of about half an hour - just enough for our eyes to become accustom to the dark.

[Graye]

OH and I spent an hour lying on the sunbeds in our garden late last night, gazing up at the sky. Ours is a tiny hamlet with no street lights and it was a clear night. We saw about 15 in that time so probably worth the wait.

If the locals were looking tonight they were probably more amazed by the two Chinese wish lanterns my son launched tonight (last night of their visit) which both headed off, all ablaze, towards the nearest town which is about 11k away.

[Mr and Mrs luvpie]

Yay, thank god for ishers on facebook! Me and the three mini luvpies were camping in a field and spent the evening lying on our backs watching for them, having been reminded about them via fb mobile, we saw loads, it was the most fantastic sight, spent about half an hour watching them before the sky clouded over, at which point we got ready to go to bed as the kids were getting tired, and just as teeth cleaning commenced the clouds cleared enough to see another 3 whilst doing our teeth.

I've seen a shooting star before, but never seen anything like that before, we must have seen about 20 in the space of half an hour it was amazing, just a shame mr luvpie was stuck at home that night!

Also had a beautiful harvest moon, so a very red/orange sky, complete with farmer harvesting his field next to us!

Sarah

[Odsox]

Also had a beautiful harvest moon, so a very red/orange sky

Not strictly true I'm afraid, the Harvest Moon is not for another 2 months, then followed by Hunter's Moon.

Yes, a full blown meteor shower is well worth watching, but what most people don't realise is it's not the only one and not even the biggest.
There is the Geminids shower around the 13-14th of December and the Quanrantids around 3-4th January every year, and both bigger than the Perseids.
But of course it would take a hardy person to lay on their lawn in mid winter.
In all there about 10 regular meteor showers on roughly the same date every year.