Most of this week has been quiet with clear, cool, cloudless skies. Mornings are, frankly, one of many great benefits of living in a rural area. Compared to other places I've lived and many I've visited, things are typically quiet, dark and serene.
I left all the outside lights off as I let the dogs out on Thursday. I stayed outside several minutes and for part of my morning ritual coffee. I did see a few short-lived meteors move across the sky. At the peak, the expected number of sightings was forecast to be in the 50-100 per hour. This is about 49-99 more than an average morning, but minutes staring up is a long time to wait between meteors, especially since every one will not be seen. Many will be faint and there is still some light pollution from nearby populated areas and from the few house lights. Thankfully, nobody nearby had left large flood lights illuminated overnight.
I suppose it was eventful seeing the Perseid Meteor Shower. But like most astronomical phenomenon, it was a bit anticlimactic. This is especially so when compared to some historic observations like what is depicted in the wood cut print of the 1799 Leonids. While accounts from 1799 made it sound impressive, and there was very little light pollution then, it is hard to know if this is a real depiction, or if it contains a bit of historic embellishment.
I've seen a few solar eclipses which are dramatic, the erie light cast by a sun shrowded by the moon on a clear day is something everyone should see at least once. It is a ways in the future, but I hope to plan to be in totality for the August 21, 2017 solar eclipse that will cross the United States, maybe even at the epicenter in Carbondale, IL or Hopkinsville, KY. I'd love to plan to see a dramatic meteor shower someday, but luck plays a big part in that ever happening.
Many other stellar occurrences might be rare and of interest to the avid sky-gazer, but planets briefly aligning with stars or objects passing behind the shadow of the moon is interesting only in rarity, not in observation.
The brightest meteor I saw this past week was actually on Tuesday, well before the predicted peak, when I was driving to work. Headed south, the meteor briefly, but brightly, shot to the north. It was only chance that I happened to see it and if I hadn't been on my motorcycle, with an unobstructed view up, I likely would not have seen it at all.
One event Wednesday morning was almost more awe-inspiring than the Perseids. I was letting the dogs in to feed them and two groups of coyotes started howling. One group to the Northeast began, followed by a group much closer to the Northwest. This continued for several minutes, as I paused in the cool morning to listen. The howling, barking and yipping coyotes make is nearly magical. Thankfully, the beagles are now hard of hearing enough not to have heard (and they probably just wanted inside to their food). A few years younger, they would have joined in, their canine instincts are not far removed from the cousin coyotes.
While celestial events may often not be all that dramatic, there was one meteor that was unbelievably amazing to observe. This probably happened somewhere around 1988. It was in a summer during high school, vacationing with my friend Nathan near Lake Michigan. In all of our teen-wisdom, we decided to take a canoe out on the lake, very late in the evening. While in retrospect this was probably not very smart, at the time it seemed perfectly acceptable. Sitting in the canoe, an unknown distance from shore, a positively radiant meteor shot across the horizon, north to south leaving a brief dim trail it its wake. Nathan and I were quiet for a few seconds after it, before looking at each other and asking, "Did you see that?" I don't think the question was as much if the other saw it; it would be impossible not to. But it was so dramatic that the question was more asking - Was that real? Sometimes, questionable decisions result in amazing outcomes.
I suppose I'm glad the weather this week was clear and my morning routine has me up early enough to see a few of the Perseids. It is awesome to think that the light streaking across the sky is a clump of early galactic material from the tail of a comet that elipses around the sun; a reminder how insignificant we are, when we allow ourselves to be. These clear, cool, quiet mornings should be hallowed for everything they proffer.
Belated Edit (10-22-15):
While not as numerous as the Leonids, the Orionids occurred with a nearly cloudless sky. On my way to work, an unbelievably bright meteor appeared directly overhead, right out of Orion's belt, and streaked to the south, ending in an bright burst. Amazing.
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