was up early around 215 to get out and watch the show

around 230 the rate was about 90 an hour which was pretty good, and all seemed to be short trailed and slow moving

by 330 - 345 the rate was up but were much faster moving - longer trails - lots of very bright ones

all in all, not a bad show

I just stepped out and there was a shooting star- Nice.

In Western PA, we get to see some pretty amazing clouds and an occasional snowflake from now through about May. I would love to go to the big sky away from light pollution someday. I don't believe I've ever seen the real night sky.

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:
In Western PA, we get to see some pretty amazing clouds and an occasional snowflake from now through about May. I would love to go to the big sky away from light pollution someday. I don't believe I've ever seen the real night sky.

If you ever get a chance, it will blow you away. The first time I ever really saw the night sky without any artificial light, I was at about 14k-15k feet in the Andes mountains. Looking up, at first I thought I was seeing a long thin cloud overhead. As my eyes adjusted, I realized I was looking at the thickest band of stars I had ever seen. They stretched from horizon to horizon. I was seeing the Milky Way with the naked eye.

I thought views like that were only possible with a telescope.


.

I like looking up to view the stars. Went out Tues night and saw a few. However last night, we had snow in these parts w cloud cover all night

I was out for an hour last night between 1 and 2 and we saw a fair number of them from Florida

Greg, do you think there will still be lots to see tonight (night of 12/14-15)?

hey Doc

I don't think so - we are 18 - 24 hours past peak so while there might be a few, I think the rate would be pretty low

I would have to say that in my years of shower watching, this morning had to be probably the best show I've witnessed

with the dark skies, low humidity and no wind, the atmosphere was very clear and I was able to see probably 2 magnitudes fainter than I normally would see just due to the lack of light pollution

We watched them a couple of years ago in SD, found a park outside of town, and it was spectacular.
The disadvantage with meteor showers is that no expensive equipment is needed.

yep

Mk 1 eyeball is the best - unless you have serious cataracts and astigmatism, in which case the Mk 2 is preferable.

I got lucky and might have had the best seat ever. 35,000 feet flying east with a solid undercast blocking the lights of the cities below. Only caught the last 2 hours before dawn, so they were mostly fast-movers but there were a lot of them! A fantastic show.

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:
In Western PA, we get to see some pretty amazing clouds and an occasional snowflake from now through about May. I would love to go to the big sky away from light pollution someday. I don't believe I've ever seen the real night sky.

Very true. I did two years as a fellow there. One night my boss laughed at me and told me the sun shines only thirty days a year in Pittsburgh. Didn't really master to me. I rarely saw it.

RMD