If you're outside tonight...look up!!!!

[kindanewbie77]

Tonight between the hours of midnight and 0500 will be the height of the Perseid meteor shower.....somewhere in the range of 200 per hour could be seen weather permitting....I know it isn't fishing related, but it is pretty cool to watch!

 

[kindanewbie77]

It was a bust here in my neck of the woods...cloudy at midnight, and still cloudy now, hopefully tonight proves better

 

[Future Fanatic]

It was a bust here in my neck of the woods...cloudy at midnight, and still cloudy now, hopefully tonight proves better

All I saw was this:

 

[Rusty Spinner]

I catch these every year here in NJ, but you won't see nearly as many as further away from the big city. Go to places like the mountains of Colorado and you'd think the Earth was under attack. They are consistently our best meteor shower each year. They peak on the 12th, but last 9.2 days (about 4 days on either side of the 12th). 200 per hour seems high. My field guide (took astronomy in college and loved it) tells me more like 50/hour at peak. I see maybe 3-10/hour here in NJ when I sit out on my deck in the middle of the night, but I have to remember to set an alarm clock to wake up for the best viewing.

 

[emerger]

Cloudy here in PA too.

I witnessed it A few years ago. I counted 95 in about 45 minutes. It was amazing to see.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

All I saw was this:

Looks like a Barred Owl although I couldn't enlarge the shot for some reason to confirm. Rare here in NJ. Cool picture.

 

[Future Fanatic]

Looks like a Barred Owl although I couldn't enlarge the shot for some reason to confirm. Rare here in NJ. Cool picture.

I'm sure you are correct. There are two of them that call to their folks, "begging" each night.

 

[Ryan R]

Cool, yeah that's a Barred Owl, had to click on the photo a few times to get it enlarged and see the vertical dark stripes or "bars" that give the owl it's name. Nice shot.

I didn't get to try to check the meteor shower out last night. But I was pretty lucky to go to college in NH's White Mountains so "light pollution" wasn't the problem it is in other places around here. Had excellent viewing of my share of meteor showers and even the Northern Lights once. Amazing how different and spectacular the night sky can look away from highly-developed cities and states.

 

[Future Fanatic]

Cool, yeah that's a Barred Owl, had to click on the photo a few times to get it enlarged and see the vertical dark stripes or "bars" that give the owl it's name. Nice shot.

The vertical stripes are apparent on several types of owls. What is distinctive of the Barred Owl is the horizontal barring on its chest (or neck) which is nearly impossible to make out on this poor photo of a juvenile.

 

[kindanewbie77]

I have a nesting pair that has had 6 babies in the last two seasons.... the first picture is the last baby from last years brood to leave the nest, the second it the female, the male is usually never around, and if he is he is usually silent. It's funny that this thread went in this direction, last night was the first night that I heard the babies from this year in a long time....as FF says "begging", they are some noisy little buggers when they are hungry!

One small caveat, these pictures were taken in my front yard in good ole' Sussex County NJ!

 

[Rusty Spinner]

I didn't get to try to check the meteor shower out last night. But I was pretty lucky to go to college in NH's White Mountains so "light pollution" wasn't the problem it is in other places around here. Had excellent viewing of my share of meteor showers and even the Northern Lights once. Amazing how different and spectacular the night sky can look away from highly-developed cities and states.

When I moved to northern NJ in late '69 you could still easily make out the Milky Way at night. Not any more, at least from where I am in western Morris county. My daughter is 9 years old and has never seen that in her life which is why, in part, I am taking her to my north central PA hunting camp in a couple of weeks. She'll see the Milky Way bright and clear from there Nearest city is Corning, NY and that is more than an hour away with several mountains lying between us.

What a shame that in 40 years the light pollution has eliminated a large portion of the US population's ability to even see the Milky Way. My daughter doesn't even miss it because she doesn't know it exists...

 

[edrandall]

All I saw was this

Kinda creepy....

 

[Rusty Spinner]

I saw millions of shooting stars last night. Or were those raindrops? Oh well, maybe tonight will cooperate.

More cool barred owl shots from Newbie. Those are a threatened species in NJ so it is always good to see them doing well here in the Garden State. They like older growth forests with a dense overstory and, as you can see, nest in the hollows of large trees.

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

We used to watch the Perseids every year from the beach when I was younger. I haven't had a chance yet this year because it has been cloudy here, plus we have tons of light pollution. Last night it was finally clear enough to see some stars. So I went out in the backyard and started looking for meteors. At one point I noticed the neighbor's cat was in the yard so I called to it and it started walking over to me. When it got about 10 feet away I remembered a faint smell of skunk earlier so I bolted for the porch and turned on the light. Sure enough I almost got :skunked:, literally.

 

[AKSkim]

I have a nesting pair that has had 6 babies in the last two seasons....

I am surprised a bear hasn't gotten to them already.

 

[AKSkim]

I saw millions of shooting stars last night.

A good number of years ago I got to spend some quality time out in a desert.

Nothing to do but look up and watch the show every night if it was clear.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

A good number of years ago I got to spend some quality time out in a desert.

Nothing to do but look up and watch the show every night if it was clear.

I'm not sure how to break this to you so I'm just going to have to come out and say it - there's no place to FF in a desert :fart:

 

[Future Fanatic]

I'm not sure how to break this to you so I'm just going to have to come out and say it - there's no place to FF in a desert :fart:

Don't the TU calenders have pictures of the San Juan or the Colorado?

 

[Broadheadscreek]

Hey Kinda while 80 miles out to sea saturday night into sunday early am from 12 midnight to 3 am you could see remanents of the meteor shower it was crystal clear out you could even see the milkyway clear as a bell. You could see sometimes 5 and 6 meteors at a time was pretty cool. There is nothing and I mean nothing more beautiful than seeing the night sky at sea as there is zero light polution to hamper your view.