Meteor Shower

Fifty years ago the sky was dark and the night sky was terrific, especially when we had a meteor shower. I went out Monday and Tuesday night after midnight and again at 3 - 4 am and saw nothing but venus and a dozen assorted stars. I was very disappointed. The city here is about 100,000 with a total tri-county population of 300,000. The night sky is totally washed out.

A couple years ago I drove twenty miles outside the city, but even the farm towns are so bright the night sky is pitiful.

It was beneath the Perseids 12 years ago that Sarah and I reconnected after her long stint at Oxford. Whilst looking up at the meteors shooting overhead, we made a mutual decision there to never part again. We celebrated our twelfth of many future anniversaries just last month. We still like watching the Perseids.

I have been watching for years. For the last 25 years I have lived in a rural area and manage to make it out past the lights every year. I usually travel in a pickup so that I can set up a chair in the back to be comfortable. I have also gone out with the dirt bike and a backpack to really get to the middle of nowhere. I used to live in northern Manitoba, north of 54. It was too hard to be alone in the middle of the bush. There were too many things out there capable of eating you. Including wack-jobs living in the bush just past the edge of society. The show is great just about every year. Don't forget about the Leonids in November. They are equally as good. .... D.J.

Meteorite showers are ok but for me they are not too spectacular unless you hear one crackle or sizzle or better yet if you see one actually hit the ground. One night I was on my way home from racing around 1am. I lived on a ranch at the time and I saw one hit in a field about 1/4 mile from me, it made a small dust cloud but was in an area that would have made it impossible to find.

I have been into amateur astronomy since around 1972 and over the years while out with a telescope you will see a meteorite and even hear it make strange sounds. It doesnt happen too often but it is very cool to hear!

Anyone into watching meteorite showers should get their hands on a telescope if they havent already, its much more rewarding to see the rings of Saturn, the Galilean moons and markings on Jupiter,or my favorite the Orion nebula! Even in a small pair of binoculars you can see the hydrogen cloud that makes up the Orion, I can sit for hours looking at it!

I also do some astrophotography but Im not real good at it but heres a picture I took of the Whirlpool Galaxy M-51. People that know photography will see the black point is clipped, I accidentally did that in trying to bring out more detail, like I said Im not too good at it.....lol




The Dumbbell Nebula M-27.




I also have an H-Alpha solar telescope that lets you see solar activity such as sun spots, filaments and solar prominences. viewing the sun is kinda like watching a lava lamp. Heres a picture I took of a solar prominence.

KenX said:

We lived in the far reaches of the country. No city lights. And it was as I said. You didn't have to sit for an hour to see one as I have done ever since. I suppose it was a once in a lifetime experience. That is the only reason I look for them now. As I remember it they were falling like rain.

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I grew up in the sticks too. And I kinda remember things that way also. It really did seem like there were more of them back then.

And being out in BFE, they were easier to see because when the sun went down, it was DARK. No street lamps where I lived. And on nights with no moon - PITCH FRICKIN' FLAPPIN-YOUR-INVISIBLE-HANDS-IN-FRONT-OF-YOUR-EYES-AN'-CAN'T-SEE-'EM DARK. I honestly walked right into a tree once, that I forgot was there. People today don't know that kind of dark.