It was somewhat cloudy here in Ky. (what’s new?) but it cleared enough for me to see the meteors between 4:30 and 5:15 a.m. There were only 6 or 7 a minute but never having seen a meteor shower before I was mightily impressed. I was laughing for no discernible reason. I kept thinking there should have been some sound with all these particles streaking through the night, like fireworks, but it was silent beauty.
I loved it.
I was on Stinson Beach, just north of SF, between about twelve and three, Pacific time. Still a little closer to the city than I would have liked, but it was surprisingly clear ( just a slight winter haze ) and absolutely spectacular 
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Well, it was a bust here. Leo was actually slightly below the horizon when the peak was predicted, so it’s hard to say if the meteors just weren’t coming or if they were out of sight. Whichever, we didn’t see anything. Flodjunior was disappointed, but I tried to console him by pointing out that meteor showers happen fairly regularly, so we’d see one, even if we didn’t see The Big One.
Am I the only one who is annoyed that astronomical phenomena are now being viewed as mass entertainment? I saw one group of people get out of their car, look straight up, and spin around. They clearly had no clue what they were looking for (they should have been looking at the horizon, a bit north of east), it was just that this had been on the news so it was the celestial equivalent of Must See TV. Bloody hell, viewing instructions were in every newspaper in the country, it just takes a little bit of interest, people! :mad:
Oh, just to add to the fun… at what would have been one of the best easily accessible viewpoints in the city if the meteors had shown up, some morons decided to set off fireworks. Way to go, guys :rolleyes:
Wonderful!
There were so many stars. I never see that many in the summer, when I am outside and can look at them.
Are there more in the winter? Or just more at 5 a.m?
Here’s my chance…
The stars that night
were big and bright
::clap clap clap clap::
deep in the south of Texas.
It was a crystal clear night. My girlfriend and I drove about 30 miles outside of Huntsville, toward Cathedral Caverns State Park.
I’ve never seen such a display. It was easily the most spectacular shower I’ve ever witnessed.
Woke up the littlest KVS (6 years old), and went behind a nearby elementary school. She saw one before I did. We stayed out for about 40 minutes, and she had a great time. I showed her Jupiter, and the big and little dippers. She made me write everything down for her, so she could remember to tell her teachers what she saw. Oldest sister changed her mind about getting out of bed, but told me later she saw quite a few from her bedroom window.
That was an excellent meteor shower (storm?).
I watched it from 4:30-6:00 in southeast NH. Only moderate light pollution in the area (I was probably seeing down to 4th magnitude…but I wasn’t really paying attention to that kind of thing this time as I was just out there with my family for fun).
Saw at least 1 every few seconds but there were frequent occasions of 2-3 at once. Several big ones (some fireballs), lots of smoke trails, some that were quite long, and many that showed color.
Very cool.
We got up at 4CST and laid out in the backyard in sleeping bags. It was a great show, and there were a few that left a glowing trail for 10 seconds or so.
At one point, I took about 15 pictures, leaving my lens open for about 1-3 minutes each time. I hope they develop ok.
(1) After about 20 minutes outside in the dark, your eyes are “dark adapted” and you can see more stars. So, you probably did see more stars after many minutes of watching meteors rather than a shorter casual glance at other times.
(2) The winter sky does have more brighter stars than the summer sky (like those around the constellations Orion and Canis Major). But the total numbers of stars in general is not different.
(3) Not sure, but I think the colder air makes the viewing a bit clearer too.
The Plastic family got up at 4am and went to the back porch. Littlest Plastic had a friend over so we stayed up for about an hour to and hour and a quarter. We didn’t keep count, but we saw hundreds in that time. We live about 25 miles from the true city, and always have a clear view when there are no clouds. The shower was visible in just about every segement of the sky. I set up the old camcorder, but haven’t looked at the results yet. I fear the cameras capabiltities will let me down. It was truly worth getting up at 4am and freezing.
We set the clock for 5am, went outside to lie on the driveway and watch (coolish, but definitely not cold). The sky was cloudy around the horizons, and there was some fog, but the whole “center” of the sky was clear. We saw several good ones, probably a total of about 100 in the 30 minutes or so we were out there. There was also some lightning in the clouds around the horizon, too, which was cool. We had a real light show going on! Our neighbor came out to watch and we invited her to join us in our driveway, which was on the other side of her oak tree from the street light. The cats joined us for a while to get some petting action. All in all, I’m really glad we got up for this!
We drove down from NYC and headed out to the beach. Bloody cold - note to self: next time you lay on the beach in November wear socks!!
But it was truly a great show.
Sua
It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life. They were so bright that it was light lightning. Vulpes and I were out in the middle of nowhere so no light polution and while we didn’t have the frequency that some of you guys had, they were unbelievebly bright. We actually saw colors in the trails, reds and oranges. The other deer hunters were too lazy to get up but I am glad we enjoyed the show.
I was here in Phoenix, AZ (Mauvaise, where were you?) and had to set my alarm for 3am. I went out and saw lots of high clouds, and figured, I’ll watch that there small hole in the clouds, with the light pollution and all, and if I don’t see anything in 15 minutes, I’ll come in. Then, 2 minutes later–WOW!! A fireball with a lingering smoke trail!! It was so amazingly cool, I went in and got my 7-year-old, and we spent the next two hours moving around the street, covering a streetlamp with a blanket, and watching. Even with the clouds and the city lights, I saw 36 good ones, and he saw over 20. (He got tired and went in a bit earlier.)
Wish I could have seen a big storm like some of you rural folks, but I did have a mommy-son bonding event! (awwww…)
And boy, can I ever identify with “just one more good one, and I’ll go in.”
Alarm was set for 3AM, so I woke up at 2:45. Went to the bathroom, heard the rain falling, told my wife to turn off the alarm.
I think the last meteor shower I got to see was in the early '80s. Too bad.