One of my geeky hobbies is watching the night sky. Stars, planets, the moon, meteor showers. I don’t really know all that much about what I’m watching; I just like to watch.
This weekend is the peak for the Perseids, an annual meteor shower that actually runs for a few weeks before and after the peak. The timing isn’t all that good for North American observers this year, with the highest rate of activity occurring in the daytime and a full moon getting in the way of some night observing. There may still be some spectacular viewing, especially near the East Coast.
For best viewing, drive away from the bright lights of a city. I already live in such a place, and got quite an eyeful a couple of years ago. It’s quite a site.
Here are a couple of links for more information:
http://www.space.com/spacewatch/060804_night_sky.html
http://stardate.org/nightsky/meteors/
http://skytour.homestead.com/met2006.html#anchor_9
A Little Ditty
2 weeks ago
2 comments:
One night, back when I was still in my band, I was driving back very late from a gig we played in the happening burg of Casper, Wyoming. I don't know if you've ever been in that part of the country, but in between Casper and Cheyenne is about a hundred miles of nothing. I pulled off to take a leak and found myself looking up at the entire Universe. It was so amazing I stayed for longer than I should have, lying on the hood of my car and staring up into the heavens. It actually inspired me to write a song ("A Place For You And Me", which you can hear a version of here.
Ian
I've never been there, but Wyoming is near the top of places I want to visit some day. My best sky view ever was near the beach at Sanderling, North Carolina, about 20 miles north of Kitty Hawk. We were almost the only visitors in that vacation rental neighborhood and there are no streetlights on that street. I had never seen that many stars. Amazing.
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