Perseids (Aug 11, 2009)

One night before its peak I’ve observed the Perseids with my 14 year old son. We are lying on the long chairs in the garden, looking towards east and north and hoping to catch those falling stars.

This is some real quality time to spend with the kids. It’s a ritual I try to do with my kids since some years, with relative success, either due to the weather, either due to the willingness of the kids to participate.  

Tonight we talk a little bit about the stars, I look if he still recognises the constellations (he remembers the summer triangle), we see some satellites (and planes too) and of course we are all excited when we see a meteor. We haven’t seen a lot of Perseids tonight. During the half hour we watched (from 21:00UT to 21:30UT) I’ve seen 6 and my son 5. I’ve seen a bright long one with glowing light and sparkles of light. 

The next night with the maximum is completely clouded.