Perseids in San Rafael

Dave Bush wrote:

That's real depressing. It was 90% clear all night at my place in Antioch. Will have to wait for the Sonoma report...

I rose early this morning to try and catch some early Perseids...at 3:00 AM it was overcast in San Francisco, but as I drove North to San Rafael it cleared up nicely. Caught a few very bright streaks visible from the car on my way in.

I parked near my usual early-morning spot on a hill near work just off of Lucas Valley Road, put out my chair, and grabbed the binoculars (I didn't bring a scope). I got lucky -- there were clouds less than 1 mile south (thick and low), but everything North of there was clear and steady.

I swept around with the binoculars between meteors, looking at the Pleiades, M31, M13...and M42! Nice to see my old friend Orion rising in the east after a long absence. Jupiter and Saturn were high, bright, and steady -- it made me wish I had brought a telescope.

Meteor activity was fairly good. Between 3:30 AM and 4:30 AM I counted 16 at apparent magnitude 1 or above, and another 15 or so fainter streaks. One in particular was downright spectacular, throwing off enough light to cast a quick shadow and streaking across nearly half of the sky. At 4:45 the parking lot lights below me came on, so I packed up and went to work.

Tonight's show should be even better, so if there's any chance of reasonably clear weather at Lake Sonoma, I'll be heading home to get my scope then back up to the Lake.

Looking forward to Evan's weather report...:)