Perseids: Meteor light show set to dazzle

[Bubbles]

.

[L.A.]

Tonight!

Provided the clouds get out the way  :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33850710

No moon either, so it's meant to be better.

The difficulty is escaping the glare of the city lights.

[floo]

I hoped to see them last night as the sky was clear, but was unlucky. I have seen them, from time to time, in other years, though.

[Sebastian Toe]

I hoped to see them last night as the sky was clear, but was unlucky. I have seen them, from time to time, in other years, though.

That's because they are visible tonight not last night 😉

Really?
..from your link, if you care to read it.....

 


The Perseid shower is active each year from around 17 July to 24 August, although for most of that period only a few meteors an hour are visible.

.....and.....


Some skywatchers have already glimpsed - and photographed - Perseid meteors during the nights preceding the shower's peak.

Chris Boundey spent Monday night at Dunstanburgh Castle in Northumberland, UK. "The meteors seemed to be coming thick and fast overhead," he told the BBC in an email.

[floo]

I hoped to see them last night as the sky was clear, but was unlucky. I have seen them, from time to time, in other years, though.

That's because they are visible tonight not last night 😉

Wales is meant to be a good place to see them, best time is Thursday morning between 1am and 4am.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/33878964

Wales is not a good place to see them tonight apparently as it will be cloudy, unfortunately.

[Rhiannon]

Got some amazing sightings from upstairs looking out over the fields. My eldest was crying because they were so beautiful.

[torridon]

I saw 6 over the course of 30 mins, one large one leaving a trail.

Looking up to the stars is always a source of wonder; a starting point for both science and religion, a starry sky being a thing of beauty and yet also in a sense they are the factories where you and I were made.

[Udayana]

Mmm .. yes, the beginnings of woo ... and science 

[Enki]

Good display last night, including one leaving a vapour trail, and made even more interesting by seeing the ISS passing at roughly the same time.

[Rhiannon]

Good display last night, including one leaving a vapour trail, and made even more interesting by seeing the ISS passing at roughly the same time.

Yes, we saw that too. 

[Rhiannon]

I saw 6 over the course of 30 mins, one large one leaving a trail.

Looking up to the stars is always a source of wonder; a starting point for both science and religion, a starry sky being a thing of beauty and yet also in a sense they are the factories where you and I were made.

There is something obscurely comforting about knowing we are made from the stars, and knowing we'll be remade into something else.

[Shaker]

I saw 6 over the course of 30 mins, one large one leaving a trail.

Looking up to the stars is always a source of wonder; a starting point for both science and religion, a starry sky being a thing of beauty and yet also in a sense they are the factories where you and I were made.

There is something obscurely comforting about knowing we are made from the stars, and knowing we'll be remade into something else.

Yes, I think so too. Perhaps it's that it's a reminder that we're not, as so many foolishly like to think, somehow above or apart from the fabric of the cosmos but an inherent and inextricable part of it.

Of course, whether you want to consider yourself as being made of stardust or spent nuclear fuel is a matter of temperament

[Enki]

I saw 6 over the course of 30 mins, one large one leaving a trail.

Looking up to the stars is always a source of wonder; a starting point for both science and religion, a starry sky being a thing of beauty and yet also in a sense they are the factories where you and I were made.

There is something obscurely comforting about knowing we are made from the stars, and knowing we'll be remade into something else.

Yes, I agree, Rhi. I suppose it's a feeling that we are all part of this universe, just stardust reconstituted. Perhaps it has to do with a feeling of our own importance combined with that of our own insignificance.

[Rhiannon]

I saw 6 over the course of 30 mins, one large one leaving a trail.

Looking up to the stars is always a source of wonder; a starting point for both science and religion, a starry sky being a thing of beauty and yet also in a sense they are the factories where you and I were made.

There is something obscurely comforting about knowing we are made from the stars, and knowing we'll be remade into something else.

Yes, I agree, Rhi. I suppose it's a feeling that we are all part of this universe, just stardust reconstituted. Perhaps it has to do with a feeling of our own importance combined with that of our own insignificance.

That's it exactly. I like being reminded of the insignificance of it all, every bit of it, yet also like the reminder that we are all the building blocks of what is to come. 

[BashfulAnthony]

I saw 6 over the course of 30 mins, one large one leaving a trail.

Looking up to the stars is always a source of wonder; a starting point for both science and religion, a starry sky being a thing of beauty and yet also in a sense they are the factories where you and I were made.

There is something obscurely comforting about knowing we are made from the stars, and knowing we'll be remade into something else.

Yes, I agree, Rhi. I suppose it's a feeling that we are all part of this universe, just stardust reconstituted. Perhaps it has to do with a feeling of our own importance combined with that of our own insignificance.

That's it exactly. I like being reminded of the insignificance of it all, every bit of it, yet also like the reminder that we are all the building blocks of what is to come. 

Meteors are just bits of dust, pebbles and rocks burning up.  What's the big deal?

[Shaker]

That we are composed of some of the same stuff as they are out in the wild depths of deep space. That's mind-blowing to me - why not to you? I suppose you find New Testament David Blaine-esque conjuring tricks more believable and impressive, is that it?

And they look damned cool too 

[BashfulAnthony]

That we are composed of some of the same stuff as they are out in the wild depths of deep space. That's mind-blowing to me - why not to you? I suppose you find New Testament David Blaine-esque conjuring tricks more believable and impressive, is that it?

Have to make a religious thing out of a simple point of view, totally unrelated to religion, eh.  And you wonder why I call you obsessive.

[Shaker]

As a point of view goes it's a pretty parochial, limited, parish-pump one though isn't it? I know we can't all be interested in the same stuff but not to be amazed by this is inconceivable to me.

[BashfulAnthony]

As a point of view goes it's a pretty parochial, limited, parish-pump one though isn't it? I know we can't all be interested in the same stuff but not to be amazed by this is inconceivable to me.

Don't be so ridiculous.  Astronomy was a hobby of mine for many years, and I don't see the Perseids as more than a fairly innocuous astronomical detail.   You are hugely over-stating their importance, as a spectacle and as an astronomical occurrence.  Just the usual attempt to start an argument about nothing in particular.

[Rhiannon]

I saw 6 over the course of 30 mins, one large one leaving a trail.

Looking up to the stars is always a source of wonder; a starting point for both science and religion, a starry sky being a thing of beauty and yet also in a sense they are the factories where you and I were made.

There is something obscurely comforting about knowing we are made from the stars, and knowing we'll be remade into something else.

Yes, I agree, Rhi. I suppose it's a feeling that we are all part of this universe, just stardust reconstituted. Perhaps it has to do with a feeling of our own importance combined with that of our own insignificance.

That's it exactly. I like being reminded of the insignificance of it all, every bit of it, yet also like the reminder that we are all the building blocks of what is to come. 

Meteors are just bits of dust, pebbles and rocks burning up.  What's the big deal?

I don't get that at all.

[BashfulAnthony]

I saw 6 over the course of 30 mins, one large one leaving a trail.

Looking up to the stars is always a source of wonder; a starting point for both science and religion, a starry sky being a thing of beauty and yet also in a sense they are the factories where you and I were made.

There is something obscurely comforting about knowing we are made from the stars, and knowing we'll be remade into something else.

Yes, I agree, Rhi. I suppose it's a feeling that we are all part of this universe, just stardust reconstituted. Perhaps it has to do with a feeling of our own importance combined with that of our own insignificance.

That's it exactly. I like being reminded of the insignificance of it all, every bit of it, yet also like the reminder that we are all the building blocks of what is to come. 

Meteors are just bits of dust, pebbles and rocks burning up.  What's the big deal?

I don't get that at all.

It's what they are, isn't it.

[Shaker]

Yes, but it doesn't make them any less amazing.

[BashfulAnthony]

Yes, but it doesn't make them any less amazing.

Bits of dust and rock burning up.  An occurrence which is happening every day of the year.  Not that amazing.

[Shaker]

It's sad that someone who claims to have studied astronomy as a hobby seems to have so little connection to the universe, but each to their own.

[Nearly Sane]

When one is bored of the Perseids.....