Astro-Porn of the Day: Perseid meteor adventure

[mckitterick]

Here's a gorgeous shot of a meteor over Hungary:


Click the image to see the APOD story.

In Lawrence, the Perseids were a bit disappointing: Too much humidity in the air = very small dome overhead of clear, darkish sky. Still, I had a lovely time out with friends!

We started the astro-fun with the gorgeous planetary alignment, which at sunset included Venus and the thin crescent Moon (Mercury was below the treeline), and as the sky darkened, Mars and Saturn shone right beside Venus, with the Moon's glow just visible through the trees. A little later, a few friends piled into my Saab convertible (which I just got working correctly a few hours beforehand, woohoo!) and headed off to a park a few miles north of town. Not far enough for great meteor-watching, as it turns out, but a great place for adventures: swimming in the raging Kaw river while catching the occasional meteor. No fireballs, but we saw probably a nice streak every so often. The boat-launch ramp had a grippy concrete surface, so even though the power of the water was too great to stand against higher than waist-level, we could just grip by our toes to keep from being dragged downstream. The water was just cool enough to ward off sweatiness while struggling against the current. Great fun!

Did you see any nice meteors? How many per hour do you estimate flashed across the sky where you live?

Chris

Comments

[pamelonian.livejournal.com]

I saw about a half a dozen this morning around 5:00. I was just sitting my patio, so I could see only the brightest ones. If I extrapolate, that could be around 30 per hour. I was a little disappointed, but it is always cool to see meteors!

[chernobylred.livejournal.com]

Wow, that photo doesn't look real. Gorgeous!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_luaineach/]

We saw at least 30 per hour for five hours straight. I almost always keep a count going in the back of my head between meteors and I never got above 120 seconds. And that was *with* cloud cover (perseids coincides with our monsoon season) so I don't doubt there would have been many more visible had we gotten lucky and had a clear night; we were missing a whole class of them*, for the most part - the little zippy ones - and I don't think they just didn't happen, just that we couldn't see them.

*We've not missed being out (usually centering a camping trip around it) for the peak of the perseids in 16 years or so years so I have a whole mental comparison chart going on in my head for all the years, with my own reference points. :)

Perseids in Northern NM

[nanowrimokathy.livejournal.com]

Just because I teased you... we had a monsoon thunderstorm so nada at first. At four AM, I got back up and went out side in my jammies. I was out for 10 minutes and saw 12 or 1.2 per minute. What I like about NM skies is that it is dark enough you get to watch the trail fade out. It gives you actually enough time to make the silly wish!

The planetary alignment was really cool Aug 8 too. (My hubbie and I were out enjoying it at is was our anniversary... 23 yrs.)

I'm glad you got to enjoy it a little bit. I had forgotten how oppressive KS humidity until the writer's conf. this summer. The only place where you can get a concussion from walking out your front door and smacking your head on the atmosphere!

Here's a bucket of pity for you! Feel free to share with friends.

Kathy

[siro-gravity.livejournal.com]

wow!!! that is a beautiful picture!!!

i will make a point to sky gaze...how long does this window of opportunity last?

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Thursday was the peak, but you can still catch a few over the next couple of days!