Just got back from a little 2 am star watching. I was trying to get some good night shots for a time lapse dream scene I want to animate, but my test shots were a bit dark in the end. While I was waiting for those results I spent the time watching the stars through my binoculars. It was truly amazing, just using with a simple pair of binoculars opened up the whole sky with points of light. I was surprised to see how many more stars were visible than with the naked eye. I saw a bunch of satellites and I saw a couple of shooting stars streak by (when I wasn’t using the binoc’s).
The perseids meteor shower is coming up, it’s peak date is August 12 and I can’t wait! I hear the moon will be bright this year, so it might be a little harder to see the meteors than last year. It’s hard to predict what kind of show we are in for either way, there could be a lot of meteors this year. Last year some friends and I camped out under the stars. We drank beer and ate cookies in our sleeping bags while the meteors whizzed by overhead. It was so much fun. I suggest you get an air mattress (or a inflatable boat since my star atlas recommends for neck support), some food, drinks, good friends (or special someone) and have a meteor adventure of your own. Make sure to get outside the city lights, this is essential. We managed to find a big open space without lights, but it can be pretty tricky. We had originally planned on going to a sports field, but then we found that they left their huge lights on ALLL night. (WTF, what a waste of energy!) This led to a weird trek through the woods with one lantern, but in the end we were lucky and we did find a sweet spot. The same spot I’m headed to this year. I guess it’s probably best if you are in an urban area to scope out a spot ahead of time at night, just to make sure there aren’t big lights which could ruin your view.
The show will peak as the Earth moves through the stream of dust left behind from the comet Swift-Tuttle. The meteors, or shooting stars, are the result of bits of interstellar debris which burn up in our atmosphere. The point (radiant) the meteors appear to come from the constellation Perseus. If you farmiliarize yourself with it’s location it will be a lot easier to know where to look! Another little something to think about while your out there; this meteor shower has been observed by humans all over the world for about 2000 years. Maybe our great, great, great, great grandmothers watched them too. I wonder what ran through our ancestors minds while watching the heavens fall to earth. Only a blip in cosmic time…
