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This morning, I awoke at 2:30am and decided fate was telling me to get my ass outside and watch the meteor shower. I pulled on long pants and a shirt, scarfed a Peanut Buddy, grabbed a can of ginger ale, doused myself in mosquito repellant, origami-ed a folding chaise lounge into my Crossfire, and headed out to Clinton Lake Park to watch the fireworks.
Click the image to see a story about Clinton Lake.
Turns out that the park is closed, but the road leading up to it is decently dark for this purpose, so I parked there and set up the chair in the shadow of the car. The Moon was out in force (waning gibbous - nearly last quarter), and West Lawrence is now getting bright enough to pretty much blot out the sky above it, so the best way to view the sky was by putting up one hand at arm's length to block the Moon's glare. I settled into the comfy chair, peering into Perseus' realm.
The first interesting object was a man-made satellite that passed above Perseus, shone brighter than most stars in the sky, then faded to dark. Cool and creepy. A few seconds later, I witnessed my only fireball of the night - beautiful! Its trail - about 8° long - glowed for a few seconds afterward.
Soon, I realized that I could enjoy the best view - and see more meteors - by angling the lounger such that I faced the darkest part of the sky, with Cygnus pretty much in the center of my field of view. Cygnus flies through the heart of the Milky Way, which is gorgeous even under attack by light-pollution.
Click the image to see a Slovenian astronomer's page.
Jupiter is dramatic right now, far and away the brightest non-Moon object in the night sky at nearly -3 magnitude; around these parts, it's directly overhead at about 1:00am. Really made me wish I could carry my telescope right now.
Click the animation to see a Kansas astronomer's page.
I was also pleased to discover that I can find the Andromeda Galaxy with my naked eyes, even with such a light-washed sky!
Click the image to see the story.
And when I was done meteor-watching, I stared directly at the Moon. There just isn't anything else up there that is as lovely as our companion world, sharp shadows revealing its terrain all mountainous and rugged.
-080507-0203am-tan-th.jpg)
Click the image to see the story about Moon phases.
In all, I caught 20 meteors, 19 regular ones after the fireball. There was one flurry at about 3:15am, during which I saw 5 in shor succession, but mostly they appeared at a rate of about one every minute or two. Tonight, I don't think we got the 3:00am storm that folks saw last night, but I was so glad to be out and doing astronomy again.
Click the image to see the Spaceweather story.
How'd your sky-watching turn out?
Best,
Chris
Click the image to see a story about Clinton Lake.
Turns out that the park is closed, but the road leading up to it is decently dark for this purpose, so I parked there and set up the chair in the shadow of the car. The Moon was out in force (waning gibbous - nearly last quarter), and West Lawrence is now getting bright enough to pretty much blot out the sky above it, so the best way to view the sky was by putting up one hand at arm's length to block the Moon's glare. I settled into the comfy chair, peering into Perseus' realm.
The first interesting object was a man-made satellite that passed above Perseus, shone brighter than most stars in the sky, then faded to dark. Cool and creepy. A few seconds later, I witnessed my only fireball of the night - beautiful! Its trail - about 8° long - glowed for a few seconds afterward.
Soon, I realized that I could enjoy the best view - and see more meteors - by angling the lounger such that I faced the darkest part of the sky, with Cygnus pretty much in the center of my field of view. Cygnus flies through the heart of the Milky Way, which is gorgeous even under attack by light-pollution.
Click the image to see a Slovenian astronomer's page.
Jupiter is dramatic right now, far and away the brightest non-Moon object in the night sky at nearly -3 magnitude; around these parts, it's directly overhead at about 1:00am. Really made me wish I could carry my telescope right now.
Click the animation to see a Kansas astronomer's page.
I was also pleased to discover that I can find the Andromeda Galaxy with my naked eyes, even with such a light-washed sky!
Click the image to see the story.
And when I was done meteor-watching, I stared directly at the Moon. There just isn't anything else up there that is as lovely as our companion world, sharp shadows revealing its terrain all mountainous and rugged.
Click the image to see the story about Moon phases.
In all, I caught 20 meteors, 19 regular ones after the fireball. There was one flurry at about 3:15am, during which I saw 5 in shor succession, but mostly they appeared at a rate of about one every minute or two. Tonight, I don't think we got the 3:00am storm that folks saw last night, but I was so glad to be out and doing astronomy again.
Click the image to see the Spaceweather story.
How'd your sky-watching turn out?
Best,
Chris
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I didn't do any skywatching; where I live the haze / pollution / clouds / humidity are generally thick enough that it's rare to see *any* stars. But I have memories to sustain me until I move elsewhere: spotting satellites for my Orbital Debris class and, later that same summer, lying under a clear Oregon sky where I saw an entire semester's worth of them in one hour; numerous shooting stars that same night and a week later in the high desert backyard of my grandparents-in-law; seeing the Southern Cross for the first time, as the song says, in the Australian Outback; watching an amazing Leonides shower in the Arizona desert.
And I hope it's not impertinent to mention that I am currently cponsoring a poetry contest whose theme is poems inspired by the names of the Lunar maria. (There's a link to a full list of them.) Submissions are due Sept 1.
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Cool contest!
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My dad's birthday is the 10th, so we often referred to this event as his birthday shower and would make a point to gaze upwards every year.
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Love your dad's "birthday shower" idea!
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Barring more accidents (trees, vehicles, etc.), I'm sure you'll be able to lift the telescope by winter.
*pat*pat*
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We didn't see anything last night, however. Here in SE PA, it's been cloudy and raining for a couple of days. Alas. Normally, we'd be up north in the forests. We'd find our way down to the beach in the dark, and lie on the cooling sand as the last light faded into the western waters, then lie and listen to the great hush of the sky, pulsing toward us in the intervals between the soft sighing of the night waves. Or sometimes, just walk down the campground road and be so struck by the beauty of the sky glimpsed between pines that we'd just lie down in the road to discuss it more conveniently. Alas, we're not there this year--the Sparrowhawk's job hunt kinda messed up our normal vacation plans. But NEXT year!!
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Y'know, I got an insight into how strange this kind of activity must be to the mundanes out there: I - who never misses this event - didn't go out the night before because I was "too sore" and grumpy and tired. And I almost didn't wake up to go out this morning *?!* Imagine how unlikely it is for most folks, for those who don't get astronomy, to wake up early or stay up late to see a few little streaks cross the night sky?
There's so much magic up there, just above our heads and above the light of our cities. We just need reminders to get out and experience it once in a while.
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