One of the many great things about cruising is that we often find ourselves in splendid isolation, far from city lights with an unimpeded view of the sky. Now, we have arrived to another August, and the Perseid meteor shower is peaking tonight, which will be moonless.
As you can see from the above light pollution map, boaters to Baja California will find ideal conditions once south of Tijuana. And the Bahamas will be absolutely glorious as the forecast is for mostly clear skies. The Caribbean coast of Central America will be excellent too.
Or you could just head sixty miles of shore from anywhere. Normal rates seen at locations away from city lights range from 50 to 75 meteors per hour at maximum.
According to our friends at the New York Times, there are two distinct phases, each with its own characteristics:
The evening shower will be low in the sky because Perseus will be close to the horizon. One meteor will be visible every four minutes…and many will be faint. But the ones that do show up will have “very nice, long streaks.” Closer to dawn, Perseus will have risen higher in the sky. The Perseids will shower at a higher rate, about one fireball per minute, but appear as short, swift tracks.
The Perseids are particles released from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle during its numerous returns to the inner solar system. They are called Perseids because the area of the sky where the meteors seem to originate is near the prominent constellation of Perseus, the Greek hero who cut off Medusa's snake-coiffed head.
For me the event always harkens back to 1971, when 16-year-old me was at the Wareham (Massachusetts) Drive-In Theater, with his slightly older girlfriend and possessor of a drivers license.
I can't remember the main event, probably something dreadful like “Love Story,” but I will never forget the second feature, an oddball gem called “The Hellstrom Chronicle,” a pseudo-documentary, which, according to one critic, combined elements of “science fiction, horror and apocalyptic prophecy to present a gripping satirical depiction of the struggle for survival between humans and insects.”
The movie revolves around fictitious scientist Nils Hellstrom as he expounds plausible-sounding theories on why insects will win the fight, citing their adaptability and ability to reproduce rapidly. The human race, Hellstrom argued, was destined to lose the fight because of “excess individualism.” Grotesquesly large bugs by the thousands filled the movie screen in front of us, but it was the backdrop that astonished.
She and I had never heard of the Perseids, but it was a cool August night, when cloudless skies over New England unveil the galaxy. And so it was: We were gobsmacked as hundreds of shooting stars sped to earth behind the insects swarming and multiplying.
This was the era of LSD, and though I never took any myself, I always figured that night was about as close as one could come without having to swallow an actual tab of yellow sunshine.
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