This past year, I've tried to catch a few of the annual meteor showers. Unfortunately, despite two visit to some fairly dark places on the outskirts, I rarely saw meteor showers. A few meteors, but not necessarily showers.
That all changed yesterday. December 13 and 14 herald the Geminids meteor shower, and we decided to catch it from the roof of a building in campus. It wasn't ideal conditions -- very light cloud meant that light pollution would mask the fainter meteors, but we were reluctant to make another long fruitless trip outside campus.
The show started at around 1AM. Within half-an-hour, we had seen over thirty meteors stream by! That is probably more meteors than I've ever seen before in my life -- not that I was trying very hard before though. Some meteors would be quick and zip away, some would last for little time, and a few would be big enough and traverse enough distance that you couldn't help but applaud! Each meteor, big or small, was greeted with acclamation from where we watched.
Overall, over ninety-four meteors in an hour and a half, before the clear sky became completely covered by clouds and we had to perforce leave.
That all changed yesterday. December 13 and 14 herald the Geminids meteor shower, and we decided to catch it from the roof of a building in campus. It wasn't ideal conditions -- very light cloud meant that light pollution would mask the fainter meteors, but we were reluctant to make another long fruitless trip outside campus.
The show started at around 1AM. Within half-an-hour, we had seen over thirty meteors stream by! That is probably more meteors than I've ever seen before in my life -- not that I was trying very hard before though. Some meteors would be quick and zip away, some would last for little time, and a few would be big enough and traverse enough distance that you couldn't help but applaud! Each meteor, big or small, was greeted with acclamation from where we watched.
Overall, over ninety-four meteors in an hour and a half, before the clear sky became completely covered by clouds and we had to perforce leave.
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