The peak night for the Perseids meteor showers is Friday August 12th this year. This year is supposed to be a good year for viewing. They estimate over a hundred per hour coming in.
Viewing the Perseids meteors just might be the reason you need to take a walk outside and look around your garden late at night to see the moths we all know are out there.
You have plenty of time to plan on getting outdoors with your better half, or invite a few friends over to view the Perseids meteors and perhaps a few moths too.
Put out a small light just outside your field of vision (you should be looking toward the northeast) and you just might see a few moths along with the Perseids meteors.
The meteors will appear to "rain" into the atmosphere from the constellation Perseus, which rises in the northeast around 11 p.m. in mid-August. The weather is great for this type of late night outdoor activity this time of year and this is one of the best meteor showers of the year.
Art
Celestial event, Perseids meteor shower August 12, 2005
I've got it marked on my calendar - thanks for the notice. You should post this on the weather forum as well, because there are a lot of people there who would probably be interested.
Thanks Art- I usually miss this- apppreciate the heads up.
Maggie
I love to watch them, but missed it last year.
Thank you for the reminder!
You are welcome.
I would like to bring up a point here. At the last GT of our local group of Dave's Gardeners "South Florida's Galloping Gardner's" one of the girls mentioned, the last time something like this happened she went out into the Everglades to see it. She was bitten up by misquotes pretty badly. The point I want to make for folks that have never bothered to look is, these meteors can be easily seen with the naked eye even if living in a "city" environment. They are what we as kids called "shooting stars". If you can see the stars you will easily be able to see the Perseids meteor showers and you should see a bunch of them "rain" in.
Get out there and take a look!
Art
Just a funny note....when our girls were youngsters, they had friends come with us to our camp to watch the meteor showers. They lay outside on the car and put mosquito repellant on. Now we know that mosquito repellant takes paint off of cars. (Or at least it did back then.)
We had fun anyway.
Kay
One of my best memories of So. Cal is watching the Perseids in the desert on the road between Barstow and Fort Irwin. Dh was stationed at Fort Irwin for 3 years, and my friend Shannon and I went out each year. Shannon is still in Calf, and I'm in Iowa, but we chat on the phone each year while we watch the showers.
thanks for the smile,
mg
The Perseids are the type of event dreams and fond memories are made of. They are the perfect entertainment for a casual gt with family or friends.
My main reason for posting the event here, was to encourage all of us with gardens to get outdoors in their garden and watch the show. As a side benefit we just might get to see some of the moths we know are out there.
At this time of the year I am getting visits by the Giant Leopard Moth, the Io Moth, and too many others to identify. I only know these two from the caterpillars that appear.
Perhaps now that I have a digital camera I will get shots of more cats which I can use to id more moths.
Art
I am wishing on a star for a cloud free night this Aug. 12!!
That's a good line John.
Yeah, that was pretty good, eh. I couldn't resist. :-)
It's not just car paint.
Dear Kay,
Thanks so much for mentioning the car paint. As I ate dinner with my legs twined around the chair legs, I idly noticed that the I was sticking more than I I would have expected after a bit of light gardening. Suddenly your post came to mind. As I peeled my self swiftly and painfully from the chair, my husband looked at me as if I'd finally lost it. I expect the finish will be fine.
Now I don't have to buy wallpaper stripper.
Thanks again,
Maggie