Stargazing
By Melinda Wichmann
I got up at 4:30 one morning a few weeks ago to catch the Perseid meteor shower. It peaked in the pre-dawn hours of Friday, Aug. 13, but that morning’s forecast was for clouds and rain, so I thought I’d go meteor watching a day early. It’s something I do every summer and I had high hopes for this year’s show since the moon phase was dark, providing great viewing conditions.
It was 72 degrees at 4:30 that morning (which was just wrong . . . but some people might argue that getting up at 4:30 a.m. is wrong, too) and there was a layer of ground fog but the sky overhead was dark and clear. The dogs and I walked out to the hay field north of the house and climbed up on a hay rack conveniently parked there.
Jamie snuggled up next to me and went to sleep but Phoenix was on level red critter alert and kept patrolling the hay rack perimeter. I’m sure there were raccoons running amuck nearby even though I couldn’t see them. Thought I smelled a skunk once and was really glad the dogs were on leash. Getting to go on an adventure in the middle of the night is a big treat for them but I would prefer they not turn it into a hunting expedition.
I love watching meteors. I’m one of those people who likes to wish on “shooting stars” and when I see one, I always feel like I’ve witnessed something special that no one else in the world knows about. Guess I’m probably right about that, since most sane people are still sound asleep at that time.
I feel lucky to live in the country and have a field conveniently available for stargazing. Still, it’s surprising how much light pollution there is from Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, even at 4:30 in the morning.
There are meteor showers almost every month of the year, but the Perseid meteor shower is supposed to be the best producer of all of them. Even at that, I haven’t been fortunate enough yet to manage the perfect combination of peak morning, clear skies and dark moon phase that would be the ultimate in viewing conditions. This year came close except for the fog, which cut the show short.
Still, seeing a few meteors is better than seeing no meteors. Some people might argue that a few more hours of sleep in a comfortable bed is better than seeing any meteors.
Last summer I went out on the peak morning but the moon phase was still so bright, the meteors were hard to see, kinda like watching fireworks in the daytime. It’s just not the same.
I like the Perseids because you won’t freeze to death watching them, like some of the other showers. I’ve gone out for the Leonids (November) and Geminids (December) and by comparison, the Perseids are definitely the most user friendly. The Draconids and Orionids in October can be fun, too, although they’re kind of “low producers” and if I’m going to get up in the middle of the night and sit outside in the dark, I need frequent reinforcement.
The Perseid meteors are most visible right before dawn. I probably saw a dozen that morning, including a couple of beautiful “skimmers” that burned low and bright along the horizon. At the shower’s peak, you can see up to 100 meteors in an hour, or so they say. I didn’t get to find out because just when things were starting to pick up, the fog started to roll in. Pretty soon the horizon was blanketed with fog and my window of clear sky above was growing smaller and smaller.
Bummer. The mosquitoes had found me, Phoenix was getting a little too interested in something rustling in the fence line and I could smell that skunk again so we walked through the fog and humidity back to the house and called it good.
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