I saw ” Perseid Meteor Shower”
(The image is form “Sky & Telescope” Sep 2012 issue. It is the closest one to what I observed in 8/12/2012. Countless tracers were sketched in the dark sky glass.)
After attending a friend’s wedding Saturday( in 8/11/2012), I stayed all night until Sunday (8/12/2012) 3:30am for the 2012 Perseid Meteor Shower. I did see 6 very bright shooting stars, But, while feeling a little bit disappointed (from the information I gathered, I expected to see 100 stars/hr), I decided to use google sky map (HTC android) & my ipod Apps (Safari Sky) to look for the famous M31 galaxy. With the help from both Android & ipod APPS, I recognized several constellations near the Perseid Meteor shower area. I stared at those constellation, and suddenly, I thought something wrong with my glasses, I saw many many (countless) scattering straight traces ( light & faint but recognizable) among the constellations ( similar to the physics experiment: radiation pass cloud chamber and create the traces). ) I did not believe what I saw. So I took off my eye glasses and put it back again. But, I still saw them. I kept telling myself it must be my imagination. Today, I found some photos taken by photographer (from internet). Then , I know what I saw was real, it is the amazing Perseid Meteor Shower tracers. I was very luck to see this phenomena. The street light was quite bright. But, at the right time and the right place (look up the sky and in front of my house), I was able to see this spectacular phenomena. About that time, Jupiter and the crescent moon were slowly climbing up. I did not wait for Venus to come up. It is already 3:30am and I was tired and decide to go to bed. Anyway, I am very glad to see this 2012 Perseid Meteor Shower. While living on earth, I think this is a very interesting astronomical event. Worth to know and observe !!!