Perseids Meteor Shower Here

When I was much younger (starting at age seven in the spring of 1964), I was an avid star-gazer, quickly learning to recognize (and draw) all of the common visible constellations and their brightest stars. Along with this, I became aware that, at certain dates through the course of a year, meteor showers would make their presence known. The greatest of all of these was and is the Perseid shower, which peaks around August 10-13. In all of these years, though, I never got a good look at a meteor shower, not even the great Perseids.

And they're coming again this year, of course. Because of my work schedule, I may be able to see a few meteors this time around. But this year, the Moon will be passing from the full phase to last quarter for the peak nights of the Perseids. And it will be in the same general part of the sky as the constellation Perseus, where the radiant (focal point) of the shower is and where most meteors are usually observed. Although this will most definitely interfere with the quantity and quality of my meteor sightings, I've decided to go ahead and see what I can. I'm going to experiment around with my digital camera, binoculars, and an old telescope to see if I can pull a "MacGyver" and put them together to capture some cool images for posting (even if they are only of the Moon). If I'm in any way successful, I'll post them on this blog.

Of course, the fact that I consistently miss out on meteor showers isn't completely due to lack of opportunities. Most of the time, I'm either sleepy, sleeping, or just not interested. But when I did have more interest in seeing them as a boy in the 1960s, it seemed to always be too cloudy whenever I was allowed to stay up late for this purpose. Maybe in this, my sixth decade of life, this will change as well. After all, the Perseids will be going on strong for more than one night, so one overcast night shouldn't be that big of a deal.