KMC Forums - Perseid meteor shower 2013

I started watching for meteors in the summer of 1961. I was 15. It was August, and these were the Perseids. I gave little thought to them other than that they were streaks across the night sky. Some people called them "shooting stars." I now cringe when I hear that. It is an arduous task to explain to people who know nothing about astronomy that meteors have nothing to do with the stars. By 1962, I knew enough to know that my cousin Larry and I were watching the Perseid Meteor shower and that it peaked the night of August 11, and morning of August 12. The payoff came in 1964 in my cousin's back yard when I counted 351 meteors. They were falling like snowflakes in the east before dawn. Some were very bright and left trails. Others exploded into pieces. Some were points of light, a sign that meteors were dropping straight toward us. We saw the finale after dawn broke. It was daylight, and Larry was yelling. I looked up to see a fireball, or bolide, the size of a half moon. It was a fitting climax to a night that turned into an orgasm of meteors. I have never topped that night, and it is more than 48 years later (as I write.) I plan to make one more attempt. There will be no moon the night of August 11, 2013. I plan to be in Rocky Mountain National Park northwest of Denver. I will be at a high elevation and hopefully under clear skies. I will try to hook up with a local astronomy club whose members share my taste for dramatic meteor showers.