Re: [Paddlewise] Stardust

Good story, Richard. I forwarded it to my wife.

I have had the same experience in which the dome of the sky suddenly becomes 
the window of a spaceship traveling through three-dimensional space. It is a 
wonderful change of perspective 

Linda and I kayaked on the St. Croix River on Saturday, then camped out at 
William O'Brien State Park with a mixed group of kayakers, canoeists, and 
musicians. We had beautiful weather for watching the Leonids: a clear sky, 
no moon, almost no dew, and overnight temperatures in the 40s-50s F. Our 
normal high for this time of year is in the low 40s. 

After a potluck dinner around the campfire, most of the group retired about 
midnight, setting their alarms for 3:00 a.m. Linda and I slipped into our 
sleeping bags with our heads outside the tent and stared up at the sky. 
There was a forecast for clouds later that night, and thinking I saw some on 
the horizon, I got up to take photos while I could. There wasn't much 
happening yet, so I ran a series of exposures of the night sky for future 
reference, then tried to capture a few meteors. The low humidity was a 
bonus; normally, I have to keep wiping dew off the lens while taking 
pictures of the stars, but only once did I have to do it that night. 

The shower was supposed to peak between 3:00 and 5:00 a.m. Somehow I kept 
awake till then, watching Leo climb higher and higher in the sky. At 3:00, 
wrist watch alarms started going off around the campground, but I heard few 
people get up. The meteor activity picked up a little, then subsided again. 

At 3:15 the clouds started to move in. Soon there were just small gaps in an 
overcast sky. After a while, I laid down on the picnic table, set my alarm 
for 4:30 in case the clouds moved past, and went to sleep. 

I failed to hear the alarm, but woke anyway about 5:00 a.m. The sky was 
still cloudy, and I lay for awhile watching patches of clear sky move past. 
Then, suddenly, a larger patch was growing in the west, and I could see an 
occasional meteor. I woke Linda, and took photo after photo as the sky 
cleared and meteors whizzed overhead. This was the best show of the night. 
Before long, however, the sky grew pale. All but the brighter stars and 
Jupiter faded away, but even then an occasional meteor blazed out against 
the blue sky. 

Despite the clouds, it was the best meteor shower I have ever seen. 

Chuck Holst 

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