A Boy, His Bike, and a Meteor Shower
 

In the "pre-dawn hours" today (U.S eastern time zone) the Quadrantids meteor shower was forecast to occur. So I hauled my lazy ass out of bed at 05:00, booted up the lights on my folder, and rode to the park to get a wider sky view here in the city. I was not disappointed! I saw 24 meteors in about 40 minutes of sky watching.

As I sat on the hillside with my bike nearby, I saw on the road down below a lone jogger at about 05:30 am, with a headlight on. My first thought: "Man, what's that crazy jogger doing up at a time like this?" :p

I have often gone to some lengths to see various 'wonderful space events', but all too often I have been profoundly disappointed. Mainly the problems have been caused by clouds, but quite a lot of comets I have seen were very feeble affairs - mainly just like a puff of warm breath on a cold window - feint and blurry. I once saw a good display of meteors in August against a fantastically dark and clear sky, but all too often I have regretted getting up early or going to bed late on a cold and wretched night.

Anyway - glad you spotted so many. You'll likely not forget that.

^ When I read the title, what I pictured was, a boy pedaling like hell (thank goodness he found a bike at the time) trying to escape and dodging meteors falling all around him!

If this thread was a movie, I'd want my money back! :lol:



:)
.