August 13, 2007

• Perseid break

  I was worried I wouldn’t get a chance to see the perseids tonight what with the persistent clouds.  However, I decided to give it a try at about 3am.  From my balcony, which has a visibility of roughly 75 degrees from the horizon up to where the sky is obscured by the roof overhang, I managed to get about the upper 30 degrees more or less clearer black sky below which faded into sporadic clouds, haze, orange light pollution from the city, and brightening horizon close to sunup.  My apartment balcony looks southwest, and with the Big Dipper at more or less 60 degrees up, I actually still got to see a decent number of bright shooting stars (about 5 or so), and dimmer ones.  I even saw two satellites, at roughly 3:25 and 3:35, both heading southwest on more or less parallel trajectories cutting slightly diagonally down across the Big Dipper.  I went in at 3:38am just after the last bright meteor that I saw, because they were coming fewer and farther between and the horizon light interference was gradually increasing (and I was getting cold out there in my PJ’s).  I didn’t see any really big super-bright ones like I have in the past, or even that last one on that Stanley Park walk Thursday night, nothing for which I could see or hear a pop or bang.  Still, I got a little dose of the Perseids 2007, and that was better than nothing.  Who knows, maybe the sky will defy the forecast tomorrow night and become clear enough for a parting show.

  • 6:59 am
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