[Chaos-l] Perseids

[Robert Nielsen]

Since people are sharing stories about the Perseids ...

I was over in eastern Tennessee (around Gatlinburg) for a family reunion last weekend, but brought a blanket and warm clothes just in case it was clear on Saturday night and I could see the Perseids.  Sure enough, it cleared up on Saturday over there ... and those clear skies are what everyone enjoyed Sunday night over here.

To see the meteor shower, I drove east to an overlook on the Foothills Parkway (which connects with I-40 just on the other side of the state line).   I was ready to spend the night alone, but there were already two other sets of people there to view the meteor shower!

The skies were very dark ... the Milky Way was about as good as it is in Pettigrew ... which makes sense because there isn't much around there (just the town of Cosby).   I think that added to the "length" of the meteor trails ... since I don't remember them being consistently that long!  I saw perhaps 20-25 per hour ... the two hours I was there.  Not impressive for frequency.  But the meteors themselves were the best I've seen in a while.  Lots of color.   Long, long trails.

Lots of oohs and aahs from the folks that were there.  And as one group left another would show up.  About 1 AM the last person left so I got in the car and drove back to the reunion.   Had to check for bears when I got back to the cabin (that's another story) ... but I arrived safely.

It's quite a drive, but I recommend that spot for observing sometime in the future!

Robert

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