Perseid meteor shower

[Smokinokie]

There should be a pretty good show tonight for those that can stay up late enough. I'm looking forward to it!


Perseid meteor shower:
# It is expected to begin around 10 p.m., according to NASA, with the lights most visible between midnight and dawn.
# If you're taking pictures, make sure the exposures can last at least a minute if not longer and aim the camera at a 30-degree angle, rather than straight up, which is the worst thing to do.

[custosnox]

This shower is usually best seen towards the East, though a lot of overhead stuff is generally seen.

[Smokinokie]

This shower is usually best seen towards the East, though a lot of overhead stuff is generally seen.

I took my children out to watch when they were younger. It was more fun to watch their expressions than it was to watch the meteors. Now that they are grown and the Grands have moved away, it will be just my Wife and I.
They say you aren't truly free until the children move out and the last pet dies. Sadly, I'm close to freedom. One dog and two cats to go.

[sgrizzle]

I've got my meteor soap ready.

[Smokinokie]

Well, that was a bummer. I fell asleep around 1 A.M. without seeing a single meteor. I spent all evening sorting my wishes only to have nothing to wish upon.

[custosnox]

Well, that was a bummer. I fell asleep around 1 A.M. without seeing a single meteor. I spent all evening sorting my wishes only to have nothing to wish upon.

We were out between midnight and one, and saw quiet a few.  There were a fwe really big ones as well.

[dbacks fan]

A funny story about myself from a t trip on a house boat on Lake Powell. The first night that we landed was about 20 miles up the lake from Page AZ. We were laying on the upper deck of the house boat looking at the night time sky, when I said "The view of the stars would be great if it wasn't for the clouds in the way." There was a long pause, and the owner of the house boat said "Kevin, do you realize the clouds you are refering to are arms of the Milky Way?" I can't remember the comet that was visible in the mid 90's, but I remember driving out on 46th North/Port Road and watching it. Between Tulsa and Bartlesville or out towards Keetonville/Port of Catoosa/Claremore are good places to view the night sky.

[patric]

A funny story about myself from a t trip on a house boat on Lake Powell. The first night that we landed was about 20 miles up the lake from Page AZ. We were laying on the upper deck of the house boat looking at the night time sky, when I said "The view of the stars would be great if it wasn't for the clouds in the way." There was a long pause, and the owner of the house boat said "Kevin, do you realize the clouds you are refering to are arms of the Milky Way?" I can't remember the comet that was visible in the mid 90's, but I remember driving out on 46th North/Port Road and watching it. Between Tulsa and Bartlesville or out towards Keetonville/Port of Catoosa/Claremore are good places to view the night sky.

There are stories of people calling 911 during a massive blackout in Los Angeles thinking there had been a nuclear attack.  There were no lights anywhere to be seen except for the glow of what they thought were contrails of missiles.
It was the Milky Way they were seeing for the first time in their lives.


The comet may have been Hale-Bopp.  There were several in the 90's but Hale-Bopp was the most visible.
I was in Tucson at the time, and the comet was clearly visible from the middle of downtown.  That was when I discovered they were doing something quite remarkable with their city lighting -- to be able to light streets so clearly yet still have a night sky.
We should try something like that....     

[dbacks fan]

There are stories of people calling 911 during a massive blackout in Los Angeles thinking there had been a nuclear attack.  There were no lights anywhere to be seen except for the glow of what they thought were contrails of missiles.
It was the Milky Way they were seeing for the first time in their lives.


The comet may have been Hale-Bopp.  There were several in the 90's but Hale-Bopp was the most visible.
I was in Tucson at the time, and the comet was clearly visible from the middle of downtown.  That was when I discovered they were doing something quite remarkable with their city lighting -- to be able to light streets so clearly yet still have a night sky.
We should try something like that....      

That is one of the things about living in the Phoenix area, is that the street lighting is directed downwards in most parts of the valley and there are areas like Paradise Valley which is surrounded by Phoenix and Scottsdale where there is an ordinance that prohibits street lights in the Town of Paradise Valley. I would assume that because of the landscape surrounding the Phoenix area that there is so much to see in the landscape they want to diffuse or point downward the lighting. Tucson is the same way. In another thread on TN about the solar storm, in 2003 or 2004 there was a very rare occasion of the presence of the northen lights in the north part of the valley. The former Mrs. Dback and I were sitting on our patio when we thought that there was a fire in the mountains north of us. It was a strange red glow that started out small and then grew across the horizon. It started out small but then spread across the range north of Phoenix, and I don't know how to describe it, but it just was spectacular.

The Hale-Bopp, I drove out to just west of the Port Of Catoosa on 46th Dt. North/Port Road near the pumping station and watched in amazement the comet in the night sky. I did not see Haley's return in the late 80's and I don't know of anyone that saw Kohoutek Comet.