By Ken Harrison
There should be a magnificent meteorite shower storm tonight. The best time to see the display will be between 2am and dawn. It is predicted that the shower storm will light up the night sky in a display that will be too good to miss. If you are adventurous enough to venture out in such early hours, best to avoid street, or any other extraneous lighting that will mask the display. And don't forget to allow your eyes to adjust to the darkness.
NF adds: We saw reference to this earlier tonight on Twitter, posted under the name of Jodrell Bank. That's the big telescope in Cheshire, built in the 1950s by Scunthorpe craftsmen, using Scunthorpe steel!
Like plans of mice and men....at 3am, the sky is overcast.
ReplyDeleteTemp 2'C, Humidity 98%
Before dawn, may take a westward trip down the M180 with me flask to see whether the heavens become clearer.
Cloud cover seems to be hanging over coastal areas.
Now, where's me anorak?
Tweet Tweet Ken it's a dark path you have taken . You will be poking Scribs on Facebook next .
ReplyDeleteMy experience with sleepless nights watching meteor showers have not been successfull . A combination of tired eyes , clouds and urban lighting combine against me . The best I have seen was a brilliant blue green flash lighting up the sky whilst travelling to work in the dark . The cause was an electricity sub station exploding near Fiskerton which cut off power to half of Lincoln.
.......anyway, as I was saying...took an early morning trip down M180 - continuous drizzle wihh laden sky - not a break anywhere in the cloud cover.
ReplyDeleteGot to Doncaster Services - had a Gold-Blend Latte and sat near a young lady with a little baby. She indicated that they had journeyed far and were taking a temporary rest.
The woman's partner, Joe, thought I was a bit of a wise-guy when I explained I had travelled from he east and was looking for shooting stars.
By this time, a group of noisy agricultural workers arrived; they'd just pick up a flock of sheep..... said they had seen bright spectacular lights in the open sky over the hills near Barnsley and were in great wonder.
Finally, said cheerio to the group; by this time the baby's face was all aglow....and returned eastwards having failed in my mission.
Hope I get better luck next time. It's always the same old story.
PS
ReplyDeleteThe meteor shower has not yet finished.
This morning was meant to be its peak with shooting stars streaking across the sky, about 2 a second - to more than 160 per minute.
Given the right conditions one may still readily see meteors zooming by without any opticical aid, but their frequency will have reduced.
The shooting stars are the result of pea-size debris after the break-up of an asteroid.
By Wednesday morning, the show will be almost over - by Thursday gone.
But's it an annual event - but this mornings shower was predicted to be particularly spectacular.