Perseid Meteor Shower Report

It appears that the Perseid meteor shower was made aware of the coronavirus here on Earth. Why would I postulate that thought? Because it was obvious the meteors were practicing social distancing protocols! They were few and far between!!

I started my observing session at 2:00am from my back porch. It was still 76 degrees outside, with a light breeze from the west. A few scattered clouds were present, occasionally obscuring small regions of the sky. The Moon was just below the tree-line to my east, while bright Mars was high in the southeast sky. I settled onto my lounge chair facing east for a projected two hour stint of watching many shooting stars blaze across the sky.

My first Perseid wasn’t observed until almost a half hour into my observing run. It was quickly followed by another. Perhaps the peak was approaching. It wasn’t, at least not from our location here in the eastern part of the United States. At this same time, around 2:30am, I started seeing bright flashes coming from the west behind my house. I had noted a line of thunderstorms on the weather radar around 11:00pm out on the New York/Massachusetts border. Perhaps they were headed this way.

The clouds steadily increased as the morning progressed. The constellations began to disappear, soon followed by Mars and the Moon. From 2:00-3:35am I only counted 5 Perseids and 2 non-Perseids. It wouldn’t have been a total loss if I had had the company of fireflies. During prior years’ of observing the Perseids I’ve seen more fireflies than meteors. Unfortunately, the fireflies disappeared from my backyard about two weeks ago. Water is very critical to their lifecycle, and our drought conditions have impacted the development of their offspring.

The only saving grace was the total lack of blood thirsty mosquitos. The lack of standing water has thwarted their lifecycle as well. Thank goodness for small favors.

I retired around 3:40am. When I awoke around 6:30 am I noticed that my rain gauge indicated it had rained only .02 inches. I looked out on the porch and everything was slightly wet. I watched the weather on the television and a brief shower had held together and had given us a sprinkle. 

I hope we get some substantial rain soon. Our biosphere really needs it. And I hope the fireflies will make another appearance before summer’s end. If they do, I will sit back on the porch and look out towards the woods and imagine that the fireflies are the Perseid meteors I missed.

As for the mosquitos, though I know they have an important role in nature, I for one could do without them.