~Alan~
Forum Supporter
Anyone else been watching the meteor shower ?
It peaked last night (Thursday), but there should still be some to see for the next few days.
Our astronomy club has a dark site we go to, out on the Dengie peninsular, near Burnham. It's supposed to be
the darkest place in Essex. There is still a little light pollution though.
As the forecast for Thursday was "iffy", a few members had gone out on Wednesday night. They counted about
40 meteors, before the cloud rolled in.
Annette had booked Thursday and Friday off, so we were a bit miffed with the rain and heavy cloud in the
afternoon. Anyway, a few emails were flying around to see who wanted to brave the conditions, and take a
chance on it clearing, which is what they forecast on the TV weather.
So, only five of us got down to the site at 9:30pm. It's a concrete hard standing right next to the sea wall.
Donned our cold weather, and made ourselves comfortable in our sun loungers.
We stayed until around 1:30am, and in that time, between us we recorded 113 meteors. Not counting the
ones we saw on the way home, and when we got home. There were some really bright ones, leaving
trails, and a lot of very short ones easily missed if you were looking in the wrong direction. These we would
never have seen from home. Apart from a few fairly transparent couds, it stayed clear all night.
We also had a lovely view of the Milky Way right overhead. As well as a lot of flashes from a thunderstorm,
somewhere out in the North Sea.
Another successful meteor watch
It peaked last night (Thursday), but there should still be some to see for the next few days.
Our astronomy club has a dark site we go to, out on the Dengie peninsular, near Burnham. It's supposed to be
the darkest place in Essex. There is still a little light pollution though.
As the forecast for Thursday was "iffy", a few members had gone out on Wednesday night. They counted about
40 meteors, before the cloud rolled in.
Annette had booked Thursday and Friday off, so we were a bit miffed with the rain and heavy cloud in the
afternoon. Anyway, a few emails were flying around to see who wanted to brave the conditions, and take a
chance on it clearing, which is what they forecast on the TV weather.
So, only five of us got down to the site at 9:30pm. It's a concrete hard standing right next to the sea wall.
Donned our cold weather, and made ourselves comfortable in our sun loungers.
We stayed until around 1:30am, and in that time, between us we recorded 113 meteors. Not counting the
ones we saw on the way home, and when we got home. There were some really bright ones, leaving
trails, and a lot of very short ones easily missed if you were looking in the wrong direction. These we would
never have seen from home. Apart from a few fairly transparent couds, it stayed clear all night.
We also had a lovely view of the Milky Way right overhead. As well as a lot of flashes from a thunderstorm,
somewhere out in the North Sea.
Another successful meteor watch
