Perseid Meteor shower was beautiful despite full moon. Watch it tonight.
Tonight is the final night of the peak of the Perseids this year. Since age 21, I have not missed the Perseid meteor shower each August. Look northeast.
Despite the full moon washing out the stars, last night we saw four or five spectacular shooting meteors with long tails in an hour. Many small ones. Some looked like ghost meteors washed out by moonlight.
I took a new man to the summit of Badger Mountain to watch the Perseids. Usually I go alone. Unfortunately I'm not attracted to him. We got back to my place at 2 a.m. He spent the night with me. We both had trouble sleeping.
No sex. "I feel reticent," I told him (reluctant or restrained). "What does reticent mean?" he asked. Didn't want to hurt his feelings.
Big Sky and No City Lights
Badger Mountain is 30 minutes from Wenatchee with big sky and no city light. A paved road. At the summit, there are are two wheat silos with a dark, gravel driveway and parking lot. Nobody else was there. Perfect.
In years past, I backpacked to mountain summits to watch the Perseids. Set a tiny alarm clock for 2 a.m. Stuck my head out of the tent and counted 50 shooting stars in 10 minutes.
Fell asleep with shooting stars going back-and-forth under my eyelids.
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Too many town lights where I live, and I'm probably not going to drive too far away from the lights tonight as I've done in the past. We've been having a few island wide blackouts lately, and I almost wish we'd have one this week, in the middle of the night, so I can just go outside my own place to watch the sky, haha, but then, that big beautiful moon is so bright. Oh well.
Last year I slept under the stars on the beach at Polihale, a very dark campground, away from lights, and saw a great show every time I woke during the night and enjoyed a gorgeous red moonset as well. Two weeks later, I went there again, with no moon, and the meteor showers were still going on two weeks later and still amazing! Could see the tails better with the sky darker, just not as often. Wow, love watching them while camping on the beach. Need to gather some camping partners again. Fun!
Julie808
Level 8
Aug 14, 2019
1
“Since age 21, I have not missed the Perseid meteor shower each August.” Good (fuckin) luck finding someone worthy of that quality..
My Mom used to phone me every year to let me know ‘they were happening.’ Lately, she hasn’t ..perhaps thinking ‘they don’t happen' on the East Coast of the US. Do they 
Those ‘meteors’ are supposedly only around the size of a pencil eraser.
Varn
Level 8
Aug 13, 2019
1
@Varn
I usually go alone to watch the Perseids. Few people stay up that late.
Varn:
@LiterateHiker Willamette Valley Mosquitoes usually ended the party for us..
I've missed it so far this year and tonight is supposed to be overcast. Also I live in a city so I need to go out to a much darker sky area. I wonder if anyone from the photography group got any photos of this event.
AmelieMatisse
Level 8
Aug 13, 2019
1
Note on my psyche:
Linda & I enjoy astronomical events. Great excuse to stay up way past our bedtime. During every meteor shower we've watched, I swear I can hear them hissing as they burn up in the atmosphere. Now, I know this is not physically possible, simply due to things like distance vs speed of sound, and sound being transmitted though an extremely thin atmosphere. But, there it is. I've been told that this is a phenomenon others experience. Ever heard of this nonsense?
bigpawbullets
Level 9
Aug 13, 2019
1
We have a dark sky area noth of us,,maybe i will get a few people and go up there tonight and watch, What would the time be for eastern Ontarion around 11 pm?
RoyMillar
Level 9
Aug 13, 2019
1
The best time to watch the Perseids is from 2:00 to 4:00 a.m. Tonight the moonset is around 4:00 a.m.
I usually watch from midnight to 1:30 a.m. It's easier than getting up in the middle of the night.
Thank you,,
Look northeast. You're welcome.
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