2015 Perseid Meteor Showers

[bradl]

Don't know if anyone is noticing this, or is wanting to catch it, but tonight (12 Aug 2015) and tomorrow (13 Aug 2015) will be the best time ever to catch the Perseid Meteor showers.

I say the best, because while this happens nearly annually, the big difference between this year's showers and any previous years is basically what we do NOT have: The moon. the 13th August is the new moon, so any time over today and tomorrow is going to be the best time as it will be completely dark so that nothing except physical obstacles and common light pollution (should you live in a big enough city) should bar you from seeing them with the naked eye from any location.

http://io9.com/the-best-meteor-shower-of-the-year-is-tonight-and-here-1723568562

NASA will be livestreaming the shower starting at 9 p.m. (Central time) tonight (GMT-5), while the Slooh Observatory broadcasting their view of the Perseids tonight.

So if you are in any place where you don't have anything to block your view, and if the weather is good, consider taking a blanket outside, lie down, and enjoy a natural show. With my only view of a comet, meteor, or otherwise being Haley's comet when it flew by in 1986, I'm looking forward to this.

BL.

 

[0098386]

My partner and I drove up to the closest place we have to a dark site. Saw quite a few meteors including some crazy bright fireballs, but what stole it for me was how vivid the Milky Way was. I had never seen it that bright before.

The car park we pulled up to was bursting too. When we used to go up some years ago it'd be quiet. Glad to see more people getting interested in this event!

I took my camera and just set it to repeatedly take long exposures. Only caught one meteor on it, but I was able to stitch all my pictures together for a star trail at least.

 

[bradl]

My partner and I drove up to the closest place we have to a dark site. Saw quite a few meteors including some crazy bright fireballs, but what stole it for me was how vivid the Milky Way was. I had never seen it that bright before.

The car park we pulled up to was bursting too. When we used to go up some years ago it'd be quiet. Glad to see more people getting interested in this event!

I took my camera and just set it to repeatedly take long exposures. Only caught one meteor on it, but I was able to stitch all my pictures together for a star trail at least.
View attachment 574918

Nice!!

And to think that last night was the final night of the waning crescent, and it was negligible. Tonight will actually be the new moon, so it should be even better than last night. If the weather holds up, you should get just as good of a show, if not better.

I'm actually surprised how clear the sky is here in Sacramento, especially with having 4 wildfires going on around the area. I want to say I've seen more stars in this area than when I lived in the Midwest, and certainly more than Las Vegas. I'm planning to take my children out tonight to see if we can spot any meteors. This would be an absolute treat for them.

BL.

 

[Ray Brady]

Last night was a disappointment for us. We had about 60% cloud cover, and only saw one faint meteor in the 15 minutes we were outside. We've got pretty good odds of seeing that many on any given night.

Ah well, we'll try again tonight.

 

[0098386]

Nice!!

And to think that last night was the final night of the waning crescent, and it was negligible. Tonight will actually be the new moon, so it should be even better than last night. If the weather holds up, you should get just as good of a show, if not better.

Ah no it's horrible here tonight, got some nasty storms riding up the UK. Still I felt I got my fill last night. Should be good until the Leonids in November (I think?).

 

[LizKat]

I'm really excited that our weather forecast is holding at clear for tonight with temps in the 50s. Last night was far too overcast. The only way to have seen a meteor then was if it still had something left to burn while passing the 500-foot mark en route to the backyard! Disappointing. But tonight promises much more fun. I won't feel quite so bad if we don't have good skies for the Leonids as long as we get something memorable from tonight. Good luck to everyone else with your local weather overnight.

 

[aaronvan]

I used to get up to watch the Perseids and some other meteor showers. Today with age and living west of the Cascades, not so much.

 

[JamesMike]

I'm really excited that our weather forecast is holding at clear for tonight with temps in the 50s. Last night was far too overcast. The only way to have seen a meteor then was if it still had something left to burn while passing the 500-foot mark en route to the backyard! Disappointing. But tonight promises much more fun. I won't feel quite so bad if we don't have good skies for the Leonids as long as we get something memorable from tonight. Good luck to everyone else with your local weather overnight.

Try to get some good snaps!

 

[satcomer]

I remember when I was stationed on Okinawa doing running in the evening after swing sift and while running at night seeing all the "shooting stars" and having to stop just to watch the spectacle. My Supervisor stop and we both just stood there and watch, then he went to get his wife and his wife and son was out there watching with us until well after 0300.

So if you have good weather it might be a life time expeirence especially in low/no light areas.

 

[0098386]

We drove down to a dark site yesterday night. Didn't even plan it, just looked up weather reports saying there was no cloud coverage. So we left at 11pm, got there at about half midnight. Stayed for a few hours watching them all. Some absolute fireballs but mostly just tiny dull ones.

Took my camera but didn't catch any meteors. Did get some nice shots of the rest of our galaxy though

 

[LizKat]

Try to get some good snaps!

Hah, no photos of cosmic events from me. My camera work is pretty utilitarian, barely good enough to remind me what stage a quilting project is in, or how something’s to be assembled. Or maybe it’s the dread “Find more of this stuff!!” memo, photo’d next to some fabric that I ran short of by only three or five square inches, and hate having to compensate for somehow.

Anyway the Perseids were just grand in these parts the other night. Tiny racing slivers and madcap dashes across an inky sky, with the whole cosmos behind it watching the show from that side with all the solemnity that a bunch of stars and a planet or two can offer.

I’m thinking to make a memento of the evening, using some indigo fabric and white sashiko thread, embroidering freeform sashiko lines to represent the tracery of the meteors, and then tacking in some other stitches, some irregular Algerian Eye for the twinkling stars and some fancy surface knots for planets, to suggest the background objects. Et voila, my souvenir of a spectacular night with the Perseids.

Even ripping out bad stitches in this project will be more fun to me than directing bad camera shots of the skies to the trashcan. By now I’m pretty good at unsewing stuff. Good thing too, since I'm better at piecing fabrics (by machine) than I am at any kind of hand embroidery. But the Perseids have inspired me to take a shot at recording their light show this year in my own way. Sashiko seems a perfect method for it. It's such an old tradition but year after year new variants keep popping up. Just like the Perseids!