Last year, you say. Last year I drove out to a quiet country location two hours before the peak moment. Utterly deserted. Then, other people began showing up. Still no problem. But, half an hour before peak, just when the show was really beginning, cars started driving by almost incessantly. With their headlights on. Didn't pipe down until after it was all over. Why were they driving during the show instead of just before and after? I've no idea.

I can't drive further away; it's the middle of the night and I have to go home. I can't go out in the fields away from my car, or the marijuana growers will probably come and shoot me.

I'll probably just give it a miss. Darn it. What I could see last year, desperately trying to readjust my pupils, was still really neat.

Posted November 18, 2002 4:14 PM by Simon Shoedecker

Reminds me of my childhood when me and a friend would stay up all night watching Perseids in August. Every year Sky & Telescope would proclaim that year to be the best in 30, 50, 100 years. It became a running joke because it never was.

Many of the meteors this year will be washed out by the glare of the nearly full moon. The ones you will see should be impressive.

Posted November 18, 2002 4:20 PM by Scott Janssens

Do you remember Halley's and Kohoutek's comets, Scott? Meteor showers, though, I believe in. They've been good, at least lately.

Posted November 18, 2002 4:56 PM by Simon Shoedecker

You remember Comets West, Hale-Bopp and Hyutake? Great shows, all three.

Alas, it looks like weather is going to ruin it for me here.

Posted November 18, 2002 4:57 PM by Erik V. Olson

Do whatever you want, but just make sure you chain up your triffids beforehand. I'll be inside, sharpening the lawnmower blades.

Posted November 18, 2002 5:15 PM by Paul Riddell

Leonids last year were amazing. Just ask Cory.

Posted November 18, 2002 5:17 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Last year's Leonids were spectacular. Advantages of living within easy driving distance of dark desert skies.

Posted November 18, 2002 5:31 PM by Greg van Eekhout

You beat me to the punch, Paul.

Didn't salt water turn triffids into mush? Or was that just in the movie version?

Of course, all this is academic where I live. Portland moves into the Great Cave With the Dripping Ceiling in about October and doesn't emerge back into the lands of the Great Sky Fire until spring.

Posted November 18, 2002 5:42 PM by Stefan Jones

Greg, I envy you that sky tonight. Late autumn night, out in the desert -- oh, man. Wave at it for me.

Posted November 18, 2002 5:48 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Actually, Teresa, I was sort of thinking about sleeping through it this year, but you might have shamed me into getting out of bed. Of course, my astrophysicist fiance9e may not give me much choice.

Posted November 18, 2002 6:12 PM by Greg van Eekhout

Stefan, the salt-melting triffids was gibberish in the (first) movie adaptation, apparently because of the attitude that horror movies had to end on an upbeat note. Hunt down John Wyndham's original novel: it's all three of George Romero's "Living Dead" films with chlorophyll instead of formalin.

Sadly, I had to explain that gag to one of my co-workers today, the same way I had to explain the "Dallas is crawlin' with crackheads and debutantes, and half of 'em play for the Cowboys" crack to my roommate yesterday. And when an article on the three residents of the ISS got a blank stare when I commented that the one who doesn't wash the dishes also has to go into the cargo area to look for the cat...well, I just felt old...

Posted November 18, 2002 7:13 PM by Paul Riddell

We're going to give it a try although Seattle has been under heavy clouds all day. I've noticed an odd pattern of sudden breaks in the clouds for blue patches of sky and sunshine. Maybe for only an hour or two, but us sunshine junkies *notice*. So maybe there'll be a break in clouds tonight as well.

Sigh. Why couldn't we be at the house in California this week? The Altamont Pass is *super* for meteor shower viewing.

MKK

Posted November 18, 2002 7:31 PM by Mary Kay

Looks like fortune is similing, and the clouds are breaking. We'll see.

Posted November 18, 2002 7:45 PM by Erik V. Olson

Paul, I now seem to recall that the whole lighthouse sequence of the movie was tacked on (for the US release?). I did read the novel, long long ago.

"Sadly, I had to explain that gag to one of my co-workers today..."

I had to explain it to an *Oracle VP* a few years back, when I made his day surreal by suggesting that it was a bad idea, given the triffid threat, to encourage the whole video server division to go out and watch the perseids.

Posted November 18, 2002 7:47 PM by Stefan Jones

Clear as a bell here in Boston (so far). And since my alarm clock right now is a two-year old who's not been sleeping through the nights consistently, well, I might just throw her extra blankets on and take her out to the back yard with me when she wakes us up....

Thanks for the reminder, Teresa. My dad remarked on it yesterday. (He will definitely be up for it too).

Posted November 18, 2002 8:18 PM by John Farrell

Stefan, an understandable *SIGH* coming from this direction. Of course, my smart mouth tends to work much faster than that, which is why I still have an FBI record for allegedly selling government secrets to the Daleks from fifteen years ago. (I keep telling the bastards that I'd never sell government secrets to the Daleks: the Sontarans and the Cybermen pay better.)

Posted November 18, 2002 9:08 PM by Paul Riddell

One small advantage of frequent insomnia is that
I'm often awake at 5am.

Unfortunately, it is due to be cloudy tomorrow morning in the Pittsburgh area.
I've never seen any Leonids, though I remember seeing some of the Perseads (sic? - the August
meteors) during trips to Maine and Vermont.

Posted November 18, 2002 9:37 PM by Laurie Mann

I can't believe I am awake at this hour.

Posted November 19, 2002 3:56 AM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

I can't believe Columbia doesn't turn off any of their on-campus lights until this hour. I swear it was bright enough to read by (never mind seeing meteors).

Posted November 19, 2002 6:09 AM by Mark

There was a high haze, which combined with the moon and the NYC light dome was enough to obscure the little meteors; but the ones we did see were splendid, big broad streaks of light, some of them tinted pale green; and Venus rose out of the ocean, so bright it cast a shining wake across the water.

Posted November 19, 2002 6:13 AM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

A few spectacular streaks but not the astronomical extravaganza I was hoping for. Oh well...made a wish...

Posted November 19, 2002 6:15 AM by Robert L

Certainly not a storm, but a very nice shower. I was able to get away from the worst of St. Louis's light dome. Full moon meant a limiting magnitude of about 3.7. Count from 4:28AM CST to 4:58AM CST was 238, giving me an hourly visual rate of 476. Counting before and after, I probably saw close to 500.

Lots of long streaks, but no major fireballs (typical of the Leonids.) A couple of clearly incidental meteors as well.

Posted November 19, 2002 6:43 AM by Erik V. Olson

Cathy and I woke at 3:30 and were in the car by 4:00. We meandered a little and headed for the Colonial Parkway and found a spot by the York River for a while. The weather was reasonably clear (though we drove through an alarming fog bank on the way)(drive-through fogbank! hardy har) and the temperature was exactly 32F. I was wearing a sweater, my denim jacket, and both coats from the car by the time 5:00 rolled around and we relocated.

We found a new spot on the Yorktown battlefield and watched a while longer. There were some times when several streaks went by at once, but I finally got discouraged when it seemed as though fog was coming in and obscuring even the stationary stars. The moon was still sneering at us, still a couple of hands from the horizon.

About a quarter to six, we went away again. I saw one more good one as we drove home. About the time we reached our neighborhood, the moon looked ready to call it a day, and we were ready to call it a night. I saw a couple dozen good ones. Though disappointed, at least I won't have to feel like it was my fault I missed out.

Posted November 19, 2002 7:19 AM by Kip

In addition to the problems Teresa mentioned, I'm right next to a housing project whose exterior is brightly lit.

I saw about five. One left a nice big streak. It was worth it.

Do we get to make wishes on these? I did, just in case.

Posted November 19, 2002 7:57 AM by Christopher Hatton

I'm so jealous. We had a heavy, unbroken layer of clouds. Meteors? Hah!

MKK

Posted November 19, 2002 11:15 AM by Mary Kay

Mary Kay - ditto. I woke up around 4:45 and
looked outside. Completely dark - not a visible
star (or even the moon) in sight. Crawled back into
bed for another 45 minutes of dozing.

There was a very brief and fairly spectacular
sunrise around 7:30 however. The clouds parted
briefly to allow a horizontal burst of bright pink
on the eastern horizon.

Posted November 19, 2002 11:34 AM by Laurie Mann

Aidan was almost in tears this morning because I didn't wake him. "Unbroken layer of heavy cloud" was not enough of an excuse for him, so I've promised a Perseid attempt next year.

Posted November 19, 2002 12:52 PM by Derryl Murphy

Clear here. Walked to the far end of the neighborhood park, the only nearby spot without lights all over. Saw: 1 satellite, 1 apparent meteor (due west, rather far from Leo). Should have stood in bed, sigh.

Posted November 19, 2002 1:39 PM by Simon Shoedecker

Well, after all my good intentions, I seem to recall opening one eye this morning at the alarm clock at 4, seeing it was about the right time for it, remembering that, yeah, it wouldn't take much to scramble up and go outside for a look...and then I don't remember anything else until the alarm went off at 6:30.

Yep, that spirit sure is willing....

Posted November 19, 2002 2:49 PM by John Farrell

Mary Kay, Seattle is an amateur astronomer's nightmare. We get comparatively long nights in winter but they're usually overcast. We also get perfectly clear skies with excellent air quality in summer but the nights are comparatively shorter.

Posted November 19, 2002 3:06 PM by Scott Janssens