Perseids and Alcohol

Hopefully, all being well, tonight will be my fourth night of Perseid watching in a row here in Notts.

The pattern has always been the same. A social drink at the pub along with a read of the lightish but excellent Stuart Maconie book, and then home to what I as always laughably refer to as my garden, get a bottle of cider or a glass of rum and coke, then curse the sycamore tree that hides a big chunk of my western sky as I look up.

Results, well Wednesday saw 7 meteors in about half an hour, at least one of which was a sporadic, and ditto Thursday! Last night, a bright Perseid streaked through Aquila, and then horrible suplhurous yellow clouds rolled in and obscured me completely.

Perseids are not as good a shower as the Geminids at the moment, in my view. The meteors may perhaps be more numerous - debatable - but they are fainter and much faster moving. They are also viewable at more sociable hours.

However, with the Perseids, it's summer, and its nice to be outside, and you can have a drink! And also, revel in the peace and quiet of the dead of night at 2am.

Most of all, I get a big kick of the fact that this is citizen science you can do while tippling, while all the boring people are in bed!