…Jane thinks she saw one of the Perseids, and her brother and I spotted 2 satellites and a high-flying airplane…
Perfect temperatures, clear night by the pond, with the waterfall sound, and the memorial stone lantern lit. We sat out there all evening, discovering a new virtue of our patio chairs: you can rest your head on them as you look up.
I have two lovely patio loungers that you can recline almost all the way back to gaze at the stars. However, I envy you. I’ve been trying to see the Perseids for the last few days and failed miserably because of cloud cover (plus it’s too cold to stay out in the evenings). And now I have thunder… which doesn’t worry me but doesn’t bode well for visibility tonight either.
Airplanes (am I the only person who thinks “Aeroplanes” any more?) are ten-a-penny around here… High contrails on the way from the UK to the west; military planes on their way into/out of Fairford airbase; and various other stuff on their way to the other 2 civilian airports nearby.
I couldn’t sleep early Friday morning, so I threw on a robe and went outside at 4:30 a.m. In 15 minutes, 3 Perseids and 1 satellite, all from my front drive, even counting the street light 50 feet away.
We had cloud cover on Wednesday, Thursday & Friday mornings; I’d been checking for the past week, but no luck this year – there’s just too much light pollution along the I-95 corridor. I need to plan a vacation for the week of the Perseids where there isn’t so much light and the weather is likely to be clear!
I saw 4 perseiids on thursday night at about 11pm, 2 passing very low across the northern sky and rather bigger than the usual shooting star … I was very pleased as I’ve never managed to see any before. the strange thing is the lack of sound – they look a bit like fireworks, but no bang! too much cloud on friday night.