I was out Saturday night under the stars with about 20 others for a Perseid party at a local dark site. Saturday wasn't the peak, but I didn't want to be a wreck on monday morning. Someone brought a large grill and we all feasted on hotdogs, brats, etc, etc, etc. Aaaah yes, there's nothing like a cookout smack dab in the middle of BFE. It was about 100 degrees Saturday, but the evening was crystal clear and comfy. Several of us brought various sized telescopes to look through as well. I was there more for the social gathering itself than the shower. It's always fun to hang out with friends under a beautiful Milky Way lit sky for a night.
Overall, I was a little disappointed in the shower. There were lots of faint meteors, but not a lot that provided the "wow" factor. Most were dim and yellow, but a few of the bright ones were bright blue and left a trail behind them if only for a brief moment. With that said, I wasn't too focused on the meteor shower because I spent as much time looking through telescopes as I did looking for meteors. To see a lot of meteors, you really need to lay back in a reclining chair and soak in as much sky as possible with your periphery vision.
By about 3am, the last of us packed our belongings to make the journey home, I was in bed by 4am, and up at 8am to play golf on Sunday morning
Needless to say, I slept very well on sunday night!!
