Perseids Watch

[jgs001]

I kept an eye on the clouds, throughout the day, and as the sun was setting, they began to clear. I kept an eye out throughout the evening, and eventually, they finally cleared properly. So I got out a meteor lounger (more commonly known as a sun lounger) and lay back to watch the skies. No kit, just the oldest astro equipment in the book, a pair of the good old eyeballs. I started by just having a look around. I was surprised to find that, even though, the sky from the horizons up to around 20 degrees was pretty rubbish with a sickly glow to it, overhead was surprisingly clear. I was able to see the faint wonderful glow of the Milky Way arching overhead from Cassiopeia in the North, through Cygnus, and down to Vulpecula in the South, lovely. I lay there scanning back and forth. Throughout an hour and a half I saw 9 Meteors, the 7th being the best by far, bright (I'd guestimate Mag 0 probably, not that I really have much of a clue), leaving behind a faintly glowing track across the sky for a few seconds. In that same time I saw 5 satellites.

About half way through, I caught a glimpse of some dull fluffy stuff creeping into my field of vision, oddly, it would not have looked out of place at Halloween as the shapes and holes looked like ghosts.. amazing what the imagination can come up with. I stayed to watch as long as I could, and, much to my amazement, the ghostly clouds, gradually vanished as slowly and gently as they had come, before fully crossing Cygnus. Marvelous.

One interesting thing, and amazing thing, to note, I was able to find and see M31, the Andromeda galaxy, ok only as a faint blob with averted vision, but it was definitely there, and in the right place, so that I wasn't imagining.

There were some very odd noises from the garden behind me, I don't know what passed through, but I didn't care.

In the end, I was forced in by the cold, my lower back aching, and having to get up for work.

I didn't get the rig out, and that's ok. I enjoyed this nights viewing.

[Talitha]

Lovely report, John. How cold was it? It's August for heaven's sake, lol.

I tried for a while tonight too, but we're having a very humid heat wave and the air's as thick as Alabama. No matter how deeply i tried to inhale, there just wasn't enough oxygen, so i went back home. Shame too, because i've never seen the Perseids, it's always been totally overcast. Supposedly it's going to be less humid tomorrow though, so i'll give it another try.

[WayBig]

You did well, I went out at 10pm last night as it was clear, telling my wife that I wasnt coming back in until I'd seen a perseid. Clouds rolled in at 10:15, though I stuck it out til 10:45, peering at small gaps between clouds oping one would appear in the gap.

I did get to see a couple of satellites and the double cluster in my bins before the clouds rolled in though so it wasnt completely wasted. I fear it may be cloudy in the south east for the next few nights...and I'm still waiting for my first perseid.

[MoonNut]

I got up a 2am local (23UT) and watched for half an hour and didn't see one It was still pretty warm and sticky (about 34C) so it was not very comfortable either. Went back to bed disappointed.

[MarkF]

John, I did the same, got out there at about 2230 and back in at 0100, just starting to get a bit chilly. Like you I could just make out the faint glow of the milky way and using the mk1 eyeball literally watched the skies move, Jupiter rising between the houses to the East and sats.

I counted 24 in total, all travelling in the right direction, some were very quick flashes that I almost missed them. But I had two good ones, one was very bright and covered almost a third of my visible sky. Not overwhelmed by it all TBH, I have sat out a few times over the years and hardly seen any even when its been forecast as the best ever. So 24 in one evening is a record for me.

Was quite peaceful though listening to an audible book on my Ipod and just laying back.

[jgs001]

Thanks...

Carol, cold is a relative term... but even at + single digit celsius, laying on a sun lounger for an hour and a half gets cold.

I like the sound of that Mark, so much so, I did the same last night... I like the audio books myself...

[AndyUK]

Hi John - That's a lovely emotive report... It's strangely comforting to know that, counter to my wife's comments, there are actually other people lying down in their gardens (or the countryside) waiting to catch a glimpse of brief streaks of light across the sky - I can now tell her I'm not mad after all (or at least I'm not alone!)

I tried taking some 30s widefield shots with my 12mm at a very high ISO (3200!) almost straight overhead a couple of nights ago - Unfortunately I was fairly quickly blighted by dew on the lens... and then the local streetlights joined the party so that put an end to that.

However, it was indeed very relaxing just lying there, and being able to actually see objects with the naked eye (such as andromeda and the double cluster) was very satisfying, and the milky way was probably the best I'd seen it this year (until last night!)

The noises were sometimes a little disconcerting, but from experience I generally knew what they were - We have a lot (and I mean a LOT!) of frogs around us, and the background crackling noise I've pinned down to snails in the hedge. The louder noises (although fairly infrequent) tend to be from the plethora of cats around our way that know that our dogs asleep at that hour...