Saturday, August 12, 2006

perseid

Aug 12 - 13 is the peak of the perseid meteor shower. If you have some time and clear place to view the sky, take time tomorrow night to view the heavens. The moon is still kind of full so that might take away from the number of meteors you will see, but I read that they are forecasting 15-30 an hour, which is still pretty good in my books.

I've viewed it for a number of years and some years it is exceptional! You will see a few that you just catch the tail end of, but there are some that you see and hear, as it burns the sky. If you are an astronomy nut like me, this is the best time of year. This is definitely the best of meteor showers for the year and it happens every year at roughly the same time. (day)

Face the opposite direction of the moon, to lessen the light and gaze awhile. Count 'em up and share your experience. If you want to get a little technical - look for cassiopeia (the big 'w' in the sky) and the perseus constellation will be found south - the meteors are suppose to come from this direction - but to be honest, these meteors come from all over the sky. I say get a hot beverage, a blanket, a nice place to sit, someone to talk to between flashes and enjoy!

Have a great weekend!

4 comments:

the author said...

'My crappy experience'

I drove to my parents to find that they were both working. I had all these thoughts about where they could have gone because I'd booked this weekend with them weeks, if not months before. My dad and I watched these last year and I thought we would be sharing another great night together. We had a late dinner, and then went to see their new puppies at a farm. We got home and my parents were pretty much ready for bed. Mom said she would put the kids down and as I stepped out the door Michael started wailing... so I went in and as soon as I mentioned I would stay with them my mom was off like a dash of lightning for her bed. So the kids wouldn't go to sleep - we went and laid down at 10 and they didn't go to sleep until 11.

I didn't get to do anything before I went to bed - no potty break.. nothing - and I finally managed to get to sleep. (I couldn't leave the bed because we are in a loft and parked close enough to the edge that if Michael really pushed himself he could probably launch off the bed and might have a big accident. So fear slept with me all night, as I worried about any moments on the bed.

Eventually I would have to leave the bed... My parents woke up a couple of times and because the washroom (only one) is upstairs and is not closed in they went outside to go to the bathroom (outhouse). So 3am I'm sick. I thought I could hold out but not a chance. I will spare you the details of this horrible event but it was not a pretty picture. I was really wishing that I'd just gone home at this point.

The meteors...
So this leads into what I saw. It had cleared by 3am and as soon as I walked out the door I saw one. This was somewhat comforting but I was still in a rush to get to the outhouse. So I'm sick until 4:30. On my last run to the outhouse, I was sitting there looking outside (I left the door open so I could have a light and feel less scared of being outside in the dark in a darned outhouse. When I heard something burning... and then it looked like car lights were behind me turning as it passed by the outhouse. I didn't see the meteor but it must have been something else as it light the whole yard. So at the very least it scared the crap out of me and I nearly started to run for the house and then remembered why I wanted to be out there in the first place.

So I was sick all day yesterday and today hasn't been much better but it must be some kind of weirdo flu. I hope others had better experiences than me. I'm going to go and play with the kids now. One of my jobs ends today so I need to clean up the files and drop it all off.

The Jaded Bee said...

When I was at my grandmother's last week, she mentioned how when she travelled to Victoria a week before, she'd gotten sick. She had called my aunt in Crofton (Duncan area) and found out that she was sick at the same time. Jade got sick this weekend, all night Saturday, again Sunday night and this morning. I spent yesterday being sick too, although not so bad. Poor Tyler had to take care of us on his birthday. And it reached Quesnel, did it?

We went out early on Saturday, but there's just too much sky glow to see too many that early. And no, we don't get to hear them around here. That would be cool though.

Feel better.

Carmen said...

April, April - I have a giant bean on my blog - does it count as a record in the giant fruit/vegetable catagory???

the author said...

yes... we can count it! I'm into all veggies!

I can't seem to get on your site anymore. I get an error message that asks me to reload office software and then it throws me out of internet explorer... any luck with getting rid of the popups?