Post by Al Degutis on Jun 6, 2005 10:10:05 GMT -6
As I explained to my wife, I need to observe the Arietids meteor shower because I'm an Aries. Truth be told, I don't follow astrology and couldn't tell you what sign my wife is. The Arietids shower peaks tomorrow but I decided to start a day early. Who knows, I may catch a nice storm... meteor storm that is.
I got up at 3:00am CDT. popped my head outside to see if it was clear as forecasted by Clear Sky Clocks. It was so I put on some sweatpants and a jacket, grabbed my red light and a collapsaple camping chair and headed into the yard. I had planned to observe from the front lawn this time (I'm usually i the backyard) because Aries, the radiant, is a mere 17° from the northeast horizon. Once I stepped outside, I looked up and was glad to see the dust lanes of the Milky Way overhead. The skyglow and impending twilight dimmed all but the brightest of stars close to the horizon (well, as close to the horizon as I can see because of the trees). I opted to stake out a spot in the yard towards the west. I observed for about 45 minutes and was able to spot 5 meteors, and only one might have been an Arietids but was rather high in the sky. One meteor was a mag 1 with a three second train but the rest were dimmer and shorter.
Had it not been for the Milky Way staring back at me, I may have considered it a subpar observing session. If I can drag myself out of bed again tomorrow, I'll see what happens during the shower's peak.
I got up at 3:00am CDT. popped my head outside to see if it was clear as forecasted by Clear Sky Clocks. It was so I put on some sweatpants and a jacket, grabbed my red light and a collapsaple camping chair and headed into the yard. I had planned to observe from the front lawn this time (I'm usually i the backyard) because Aries, the radiant, is a mere 17° from the northeast horizon. Once I stepped outside, I looked up and was glad to see the dust lanes of the Milky Way overhead. The skyglow and impending twilight dimmed all but the brightest of stars close to the horizon (well, as close to the horizon as I can see because of the trees). I opted to stake out a spot in the yard towards the west. I observed for about 45 minutes and was able to spot 5 meteors, and only one might have been an Arietids but was rather high in the sky. One meteor was a mag 1 with a three second train but the rest were dimmer and shorter.
Had it not been for the Milky Way staring back at me, I may have considered it a subpar observing session. If I can drag myself out of bed again tomorrow, I'll see what happens during the shower's peak.
I hopped up and it just stopped and looked at me. I made some noise and stomped my feet and it scurried back into the garden. Now I was standing about two feet further back. A few minutes later, the raccoon wandered back out of the garden and I again sent it back into the garden with the noise. It decided to take a different path, which I could not see, but heard it entering the perimeter trees about 30 feet in front of me. I decided I need a change of scenery and moved to the front of the house. The clouds had thinned out in the north and east so I spent about 15 minutes looking northeast but didn't spot anything.
