When we got to Casco it was another gorgrous clear starry night. I’m not yet so used to being able to see the Milky Way on moonless nights that I take it for granted. I looked a while and didn’t see any meteors. In the early hours of Saturday I slept so poorly that I wasn’t about to get up before dawn to look for meteors. Saturday night, however, I psyched myself up to go out if I woke up to pee in the small hours. I looked at the sky long enough on Saturday evening to realize it was good and cold, so I set out warm clothes. Sure enough, at 2:58 (I always check the clock, just to see how it’s going) I woke up. Keeping one eye closed to stay dark adapted, I pulled pants and a sweater over my flannel pajamas, put a quilted shirt-jac and poplin jacket over that, and put on a knit hat (the first of the Jo Sharp silkroad aran tweed ones). I picked a chair off the porch, carried it down to the front yard, and sat down to look.<\/p>\n
I never realized there were that many stars in Orion! I never realized there were a quarter so many. Even without meteors, it was gorgeous. I was hearing some sounds that might have been owl hoots, when a huge bird with rounded wings flew swiftly and silently right over my head towards the lake. I’m guessing great horned owl, but it could have been a barred owl just as well.<\/p>\n
I did see three or four faint meteors and three good bright ones. It was the cold wind that drove me inside more than lack of meteors.\u00c2\u00a0 The clock was reading 3:15 when I came in. Seven meteors in less than 15 minutes, not at all bad. When I looked at the thermometer when I really woke up around 8 AM it was reading around 35. It must have been well below freezing at 3 AM. Including the owl, getting up and out had been totally worthwhile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When we got to Casco it was another gorgrous clear starry night. I’m not yet so used to being able to see the Milky Way on moonless nights that I take it for granted. I looked a while and didn’t see any meteors. In the early hours of Saturday I slept so poorly that I … <\/p>\n