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Re: (meteorobs) memorable meteors

Yeah...great idea.

Any unexpected meteor while camping, laying around a
fire, listening to the night or talking with family
and friends is always a joy.

Specific events? That's easy...

Last summer, laying on the beach at Lake Michigan with
my wife, counting peaking Perseids for those couple
hours before dawn, when the moon had swelled up like a
big ripe strawberry and was losing altiude behind us,
those bright meteors were streaking through the
crashing waves of an incredible aurora borealis. And
to think people go to church for a religious
experience.

The Geminids of 1998 - the weekend leaning against the
peak night was a cloudy mess, not to mention
depressing. My wife and daughter and I had rented a
cabin in rural southern Ohio for the show which we
might not get to see. We were supposed to check out on
Sunday, but the weather forecast had a hint of a
chance of clearing, so we stayed another night. As
dusk made the roiling sky even muddier, we could see
the long frayed edge of the blanket of clouds off in
the west. It was moving our way!

Well, the three of us dressed in layers, braved the
December cold and counted over 100 meteors per hour.
It was thrilling. Brief periods of nothing then
"there's one! there's another one!! and another!!!
didja see that one?!" Boom, boom, boom, one after
another, two, three, four, even five in rapid
succession.

Several cast shadows...

The single most spectacular meteor was a Perseid, back
in the mid-80's. Three of us were watching from
central Ohio, having a good time, listening to Pink
Floyd, philosophizing and speculating and enjoying the
show. At a moment when we all were taking a break,
looking at each other and having a laugh, we were
suddenly awash in bright white light. I could see my
companions faces clearly, the pine trees behind us,
shadows and so on. We all look up immediately to see
the lingering train of this explosive meteor.

...but all meteor showers are memorable, aren't they?

I've enjoyed the other responses, and I'm gonna
include in 'em in my e-zine, 'Gardens, Stars and
Butterflies'.


--- Meteorrr@cs.com wrote:
> I've noticed that the mail has been kind of slow the
> last few days so I 
> thought it might  interesting to ask my fellow
> meteor observers what their 
> most memorable (or unmemorable) meteor watching
> experiance was.  I remember 
> Sky and Telescope did something similar to this
> years back.  One rather 
> humourous reply was a gentleman who somehow managed
> to get his face stuck to 
> the side of his scope in very cold weather!! 
> Anyway, thanks in advance for 
> any replys.  
> 
> 
>                                                     
>      Jeff W.
> To UNSUBSCRIBE from the 'meteorobs' email list, use
> the Web form at:
>
http://www.tiacdot net/users/lewkaren/meteorobs/subscribe.html


=====
Gregg, lost in middle age...You can reach me at
PO Box 18676
Asheville, NC 28814

or at my website, cobwebbed?http://pages.prodigy.com/daddy 
- 20,000 visitors as of June 6, 2000!

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