Early Wednesday morning I was having trouble sleeping, which is unfortunately all too normal for me. Sometime after 3 AM I decided, what the hell, I'm going outside to check out the Perseid meteor shower. I slipped on a light jacket and put on my old grass-cutting shoes and headed out into the darkness.
Well, it wasn't quite "dark." Unfortunately, high in the eastern sky was a nearly full moon which tends to wash out the view of most of the stars or anything else that one might care to see in the night sky, including meteors. Also, we live on the suburban south side of Indianapolis. While we are some five miles from downtown, there remains a great deal of ambient light from numerous sources which has the effect of washing out the sky even more.
Undaunted, I got a lawn chair and moved around to find a spot affording the broadest view of the sky while blocking out the moon as much as possible. So oriented, I sat watching for nearly half an hour, spotting nothing meteoric.
My first experience with the Perseids goes back to the mid-1960s (yeah, I'm kind of an old fart) on a clear, moonless night, spooning with a young lady out in northern Minnesota lake country in my dad's black and canary yellow 1965 Pontiac Bonneville (it was pretty cool, by the way). I didn't know of such things – meteors, that is. We stopped our "spoonin'" and watched amazed as literally dozens of the damn things whisked across the pitch-black sky. Hell, I thought we were being invaded. "War of the Worlds!"
Since that wondrous night, I have tried numerous times to catch more such glimpses of the Perseids and a number of the other yearly meteor showers with generally disappointing results. Oftentimes an overcast sky obviated even the possibility.
A few years ago local weather forecasters predicted that that particular year's Perseid shower would likely be the best in many a year – that at its peak, one might see as many as a thousand or more meteors every minute! Well, maybe not a thousand. More like three or four, but still... There was to be no moon.
I was ready, by God! I put on sweatpants and a sweatshirt, and brought a light blanket and a thermos of fresh coffee, as it was a rather chilly and damp night. I grabbed a lawn chair from the patio and, following the weather forecaster's instructions, set it up facing east and slightly to the north. I was comfortably in place by about 1 AM - primed for checking out prodigious hordes of meteorites, or shooting stars, or "St. Lawrence's tears" as some refer to them.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Ruvy
Baritone,
Great read! I noticed the importance the car and the Perseids and the relative lack of importance of the young lady. Fory years ago, the Perseids would have scarcely gotten my attention if there was a young female with "spoons" to be "sampled".
2 - Ruvy
Oh yeah, I fergot to mention. I have a neighbor who looks an awful lot like you (at least according to the photo). He is as flexible and easy going as you are, too.... ;o)
3 - zingzing
"on a clear, moonless night, spooning with a young lady out in northern Minnesota lake country"
ever been to lake vermillion? it's near tower/sudan/virginia. incredible place. probably my favorite place in the world.
4 - Baritone
Ruvy,
Well, the young lady in question was sadly a victim of my stupidity and male chauvinism. Perhaps you are correct. If the sky proved more compelling than what was transpiring in the Pontiac, maybe it's best we parted ways.
Maybe your neighbor is my long lost twin? :)
Thanks for the comments.
B
5 - Baritone
Zing,
No I haven't. My dad had but one passion in his later years - fishing. We made yearly treks up to the area around Park Rapids, Minnesota for 2 or 3 weeks each summer. My older brother and I generally enjoyed it, but would probably have liked to see sites other than pine trees and lakes - like maybe a city or two. But my parents had "been there, done that" in their earlier years and had little interest in any hustle and bustle.
Now, though, I could enjoy some relaxing time spent overlooking a lake and tall pines. Sounds pretty good to me. :)
B
6 - Dr Dreadful
Good piece.
Gawp up at the sky, though, for long enough on any dark night and you're certain to see a meteor or two. Also satellites (distinguishable from planes by their high speed and absence of flashing nav lights). It's great fun.
7 - Baritone
Doc,
Of course, you're right. But you really need to be a fair distance away from urban and suburban centers. The ambient light does such a thorough job of washing out the sky that where I am, at any rate, even on a clear, moonless night, you can pretty much count the visible stars on 2 hands and maybe a foot or 2.
We used to have a small, really cheap telescope we bought at some garage sale for like $20. Even with that we could zoom in on the Moon and discern more of its surface features than you might suppose. I was even able a few years ago to focus on Saturn and see its rings. What a hoot! Alas, our little telescope fell from a shelf earlier this year shattering one of the lenses, sadly ending its usefull life. :/
B
8 - Ruvy
Baritone,
We used to have a neighbor who loves astronomy. Every now and again he would take our sons to mountains in Samaria (actually a kind of mesa past Shvut RaHél) where the ambient light was very weak, pull out a binoculars attached to a pole and a camera. I you want, I can contact him and perhaps he can contact you about putting together a telescope on the cheap. He is very good at that kind of stuff. In Israel, you learn early to put together things from scratch. That's why there are so many startups here.
9 - Baritone
Ruvy,
Thanks for the suggestion. My interest in things astronomical is fairly casual. I took Astronomy 100 in college - the typical general survey class to help fulfill the science requirements of my BA degree. That's how I learned we weren't being attacked on that night in Minnesota.
But, I am not an avid star gazer. I just get a kick out of occasionally seeing meteors.
Question (If you have seen the film Close Encounters..., you'll know what I'm asking about:)
If you were given an opportunity to get on board the extra-terrestrial's ship and fly off with them, would you do it?
I believe I would. I'm happy with life here on good ole earth, and it would involve some hard choices, but such an opportunity would be huge and hard to pass up even if more than just a little scary.
B
10 - Ruvy
For all the sacrifices I've made here, if given the opportunity to board a "chariot of fire", an alien spaceship, I'd jump at it. I'd want to drag my wife along, but I know one son who would follow me in a New York second.
11 - Baritone
Ruvy,
Yeah, I mean, what the hell? It might be the same for me. I'm not sure my wife would do it, but she might. In the right circumstances, she will try most anything. I think both of my kids would jump on board as well. Hell, if I had them, that's all I'd want or need. I'll let you know if the opportunity arises. :)
B
12 - zingzing
to get away from obamamerica, the right wingers wish for aliens. (ahem, while saying that obama is an alien...)... ...
oh, i r o n y
.
13 - Ruvy
to get away from obamamerica, the right wingers wish for aliens....
This was Baritone's idea, not mine. But if it were to happen, look at it this way, zing. While you roast in the hellfire that I think "obamamerica" will become, me and Baritone can debate whether you're roasting because you weren't "liberal" enough (Baritone's argument) or you weren't "moral" enough (my argument).
Either way, you roast, and me and Baritone get to enjoy watching it.
14 - Baritone
Ah now Ruvy, don't go puttin' words in my mouth.
B
15 - Ruvy
OK Baritone, if obamamerica becomes the hellfire I think it will, zing roasts, and you and I (and our families) get to enjoy watching it from outer space.
16 - zingzing
you would enjoy watching me roast in hellfire, ruvy?
that's pretty damn evil. glad to know i inspire such hatred and bloodlust. mmmm. makes me feel wanted. wanna stick it in?
seriously, i think you seriously need to realign your brain. maybe more towards humanity and away from reptile.
i was just noting the irony, which is pretty damn strong, i must say.
17 - Ruvy
to get away from obamamerica, the right wingers wish for aliens. (ahem, while saying that obama is an alien...)... ...
oh, i r o n y
You started this line of thought, not me. And Baritone, not I, brought up the idea of escaping the planet in a spaceship.
If you don't like me enjoying my own little ironies at your expense, don't try to impose yours on me. Remember - I do not turn the other cheek.
Shabbat Shalom,
Ruvy
18 - zingzing
eh? you two were talking about it long before i got involved. i just connected it back to your ridiculous birther beliefs, nothing more. besides, doesn't matter who started anything. and nothing is at my expense here. you're the ones wishing for aliens. funny stuff.
"Remember - I do not turn the other cheek."
ruvy's hard.
19 - Baritone
Guys, guys. Let's not get into it here amongst our Cultural friends. Can't you see the arched eyebrows? We should confine our viturpations to the "Politics" arena.
I seriously doubt that aliens are going to swoop down and invite me or anyone else to tour the environs of space with them anytime soon. It was just a bit of "what ifs."
We should all just smooth our ruffled feathers, sit down and have a drink. I'm buyin'. What'll it be?
20 - zingzing
blood.
21 - Baritone
Straight or on the rocks!
22 - zingzing
ew, cold blood...
23 - Cindy
My martini recipe: 1/2 vodka (Absolut Citron if you have it) + 1/2 DeKuyper's Cherry Berry Pucker or Cherry Pucker Schnapps. Shaken not stirred (you can't get a martini cold enough for me by stirring, my apologies to James Bond). Use a chilled (frozen) glass. Garnish with a cherry*.
*give this to your husband (if you don't have a husband, then give it to your wife or your date or your parrot--just don't eat it--as it will interfere with your tough guy/gal image--it's completely for presentation)
24 - Cindy
Oh, make that extra shaken...it should have the faintest bit of fine iciness on the top when poured.
25 - Cindy
Ackkkk...wrong vodka. The Citron is for the cosmopolitan martini. It's just plain vodka for the cherry martini.