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Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Heavenly Sightings. Or Not



Hemerocallis 'Raspberry Suede'
As many of you know this past weekend was the Perseid Meteor Showers.   This meteor show occurs every August.  We watched them one time when we lived in Virginia.  We used to live on a cul-de-sac.  Since there were no worries for traffic, we brought out lawn furniture cushions and put them in the street and watched from the middle of the cul-de-sac.  We saw a few meteors, but nothing to be excited about.  Now I live in an area where there is little ambient light, a perfect spot for star gazing.   Perfect unless there is cloud cover.




Second blooming of Resurrection Lily, Lycoris radiata


The meteor showers are best viewed from August 10- 13th.  There may be some stragglers on the 14th or some early birds on the evening of the 9/10th...but the optimum time is 10- 13.  Each night I went out around 11:30 PM, the last evening outing for the dogs.   
The first evening I was able to see a couple very faint meteors, I think.  There was a lot of heat lightening off in the western sky, but a few of those streaks were probably meteors.  I did see one big bright one streak across the sky....most definitely a meteor.  Then the clouds rolled in with more lightening, time to go inside!





Panicum virgatum 'Heavy Metal'

The second evening, same scenario.  Cloud cover and a couple very faint meteors going across my sky.
Third evening there was an added feature...a bat swooped down near my face as my neck was craned back as I scoped the sky for those fleeting streaks of light!  Time to go in.  Freaked me out.  I like bats, they eat bugs, but not by my face.






Last night was the cusp of being too late for any viewing and again the clouds were light and wispy, just enough to blur your view.  I saw one meteor zoom across the sky and last night, the added feature was an owl off in the distance, Who cooks for you, who cooks for you....a Barred Owl.
So until next August I will be outside every evening, hoping to take in some part of nature...and maybe in October, I will see a meteor!!!
The photos have nothing to do with the subject of the post, other than they were taken in the early evening of these nights.  


©Copyright 2012 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

20 comments:

  1. We are in Maryland and it was cloudy all nights. I have only seen them once in the 36 years of living here. We spread a quilt out in the back yard and saw a hour of pretty good stuff. We have it to remember!
    Thanks for the beautiful photos!

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    1. Gardenfleetingarchitecture, thanks for stopping by!!! Hope you remember to watch next year!!

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  2. So glad you can see the stars and beautiful events in the sky. I really think it's unfortunate that, with increasing artificial light, we're losing our views of them. Too many shopping centers, not enough celestial wonder!

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    1. DJ, I think people don't think about light pollution... love having a large view of the sky!

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  3. Great post. Love the pics even though they're extra candy. :-)
    Missed the meteor shower, had to be at work at 5AM. Maybe next year.

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    1. Kim and Victoria, thanks! Hard to stay up when work starts so early.

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  4. What a bummer that you didn't see much. I have fond memories of taking my son to the beach when he was about 12, to see the Perseids. We all stayed up very late that night, and saw a great show, on the beach with a bunch of other people, all going Ooooh and Aaaah, like it was fireworks.

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    1. Alison, It was a shame we didn't get to see a lot of meteors. Watching at the beach would be great! Just like fireworks, ooohs and ahhhs.

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  5. Rats, I completely forgot about the meteor shower, we planned to go up to the cliffs and see if we could spot any. Maybe next year... Shame about the cloud cover - and shocking to have bat fly so close...

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    1. Janet, now you have a great place to view any meteor show, right at your coastline.

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  6. We should have dark sky, but several neighbors have those humungous floodlights (what are they afraid of?). Still...we can get a pretty good show, when we remember, which we didn't. Enjoyed your report.

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    1. Ricki, I can't believe people with big lights. There is someone across the lake who puts it on when he is here.

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  7. It was cloudy here so we did not see much. Janet I love that Raspberry Suede lily. Just gorgeous. Have a wonderful week.

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    1. Lona, Sorry it was cloudy for you too. Yes, I like Raspberry Suede, super color.

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  8. Janet, I wish you would have seen more, especially because you live where they would be more visible. I have never seen a meteor shower before but it is something I would stay up to watch. I too was glad you had photos. They were a nice touch.

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    1. Donna @GWGT, I wish we could have seen more too. Maybe next shower it will be clear. I was playing with the camera settings ....they came out pretty well.

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  9. I completely missed the meteor showers, Janet; I think the first few days I was glued to the TV set for the final days of the Olympics. The bat would have freaked me out, too! Yes, they're helpful creatures, but as you say, I wouldn't want one near my face:) 'Raspberry Suede' is a beautiful daylily!

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    1. Rose, We watched a good deal of the Olympics too. Lots of fun. Yes, the bats are good but not up close!
      Raspberry Suede is a super bloom.

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  10. We had too much cloud cover as well to see anything...I love seeing these meteors too...

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  11. Donna @ GEV, Cloud cover is frustrating!! Hope we can see some later this year.

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