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Perseid Party
Aug. 13th, 2007 03:30 pmWell, the trip to the Ridgeway last night was ace. C picked me up just after 11:15pm and we drove to Hackpen hill, fully expecting it to be crawling with people, however, there was only one other person there, so we set ourselves up in a clear spot, right on the edge where the ridgeway drops down into a field so there was no obstruction. C had done it all properly and bought a compass, although it ended up being a bit redundant since there's no way we could have missed the right direction.
We had chairs and blankets, a flask of hot chocolate, cushions to prevent neck ache and a pair of binocs each. We were in the complete dark once the torch was out, no light from anywhere except for a bit of a glow in the distance from Swindon. We had started to see the odd meteor streaking across the sky as we walked up the hill and chatted until about 12am when they started increasing in brightness and frequency. For the first hour there were about 5 meteors a minute, then from 1am until 2am things really started hotting up, they were coming thick and fast so we abandoned the attempt with binocs and reverted to the naked eye which made everything much more spectacular.
There were a lot of "Oooo-ahhhhh" moments, several crossed trails and some amazingly bright ones, then when they started to slow down at about 2:30am we started counting satellites and watching the flares less often while we talked. I haven't seen a shower that spectacular in a very long time. When I was in the US it was usually cloudy, and the last time I remember seeing one that was so amazing was when I was 13 (I think) and watching the shower with my dad.
We left just after 3am and drove home, I got to bed about 4:15am so waking up this morning was painful, however it was very worth it.
I think that if I have any indication it's going to be that clear for the shower next year, I may try and organise a Perseid Party on the Ridgeway, so anyone who fancies can come and stay and we'll all go out to Hackpen together to watch the shower, it's an ideal location and a fab opportunity to socialise.
We had chairs and blankets, a flask of hot chocolate, cushions to prevent neck ache and a pair of binocs each. We were in the complete dark once the torch was out, no light from anywhere except for a bit of a glow in the distance from Swindon. We had started to see the odd meteor streaking across the sky as we walked up the hill and chatted until about 12am when they started increasing in brightness and frequency. For the first hour there were about 5 meteors a minute, then from 1am until 2am things really started hotting up, they were coming thick and fast so we abandoned the attempt with binocs and reverted to the naked eye which made everything much more spectacular.
There were a lot of "Oooo-ahhhhh" moments, several crossed trails and some amazingly bright ones, then when they started to slow down at about 2:30am we started counting satellites and watching the flares less often while we talked. I haven't seen a shower that spectacular in a very long time. When I was in the US it was usually cloudy, and the last time I remember seeing one that was so amazing was when I was 13 (I think) and watching the shower with my dad.
We left just after 3am and drove home, I got to bed about 4:15am so waking up this morning was painful, however it was very worth it.
I think that if I have any indication it's going to be that clear for the shower next year, I may try and organise a Perseid Party on the Ridgeway, so anyone who fancies can come and stay and we'll all go out to Hackpen together to watch the shower, it's an ideal location and a fab opportunity to socialise.
