Stars

The Perseid meteor shower peaked right at the same time as the full moon. Law of Sod applies; meteor showers are best seen against dark skies. But we work with what we have.

It’s been so hot during the day that going out at night is a relief. We spent time resting indoors during the heat of the day and went out after 10pm to look up. The advice is to look north, towards the constellation of Perseus – the trails of the meteors radiate out from that area. We have a south facing garden (but a ruddy long south facing garden), so we’d have to walk right up the far end or across the road and down the hill to a spot where we can look north. What we did instead was to look straight up and to the west a little, away from the glare of the rising Moon and where the sky was darkest.

We spent three nights watching the sky. For all the fanfare, a meteor shower is not like a fireworks display – nothing like as spectacular and at one per ten minutes it is not for the easily bored. But when they zizz across the sky – this is something much further away than a firework exploding a hundred metres or so overhead. It looks tiny, but the thrill of seeing that brief fizz miles overhead – catching something that lasts just a second or two – it’s better than fireworks, where you bought it, placed it, timed it and lit the fuse that sent it on its way. This was a spark we saw by lucky chance.

We saw several on each night we went out to look. Looking up, looking north, looking south… in every direction, there were meteors. It was a good time to sit and talk between sightings, too. Sometimes, it isn’t just the light show in the sky above, it’s the chance to do nothing on purpose without feeling you’d better get up and get working.

There’s meteors and burning space junk at all times of the year, so if you have the chance, look up.