Perseid Meteor Shower 2007

07:36.13 - Monday 13th August 2007   (Link to This Entry)

Last night and early this morning saw the annual Perseid Meteorite Shower visiting Earth as it passes through the trail of dust left behind by the Swift-Tuttle comet. Tiny grains of dust enter the Earth's atmosphere at high speed and blaze briefly across the sky before dying out.

This year we elected to watch the shower from the back garden and set the alarm for 2AM accordingly. Armed with a cup of tea and a sleeping bags we lay in the reclining lawn chairs, and despite our limited view of the sky (the garden being high-fenced and fairly small) we still saw enough to make it worthwhile. M went back inside shortly before 4AM but I elected to stay outside for a little longer.

It was perhaps inevitable that I should fall asleep where I was, and I awoke at 7AM, quite refreshed and in good spirits. Something about the blue sky above and the green grass, damp with dew, below makes it worthwhile.