I'm talking about the meteor showers. Last night was supposed to be the peak of the eta Aquariids - the eta Aquariids are a strong shower when viewed from the southern tropics.
From the equator northward, they usually only produce medium rates of 10-30 per hour just before dawn. Activity is good for a week centered the night of maximum activity. These are swift meteors that produce a high percentage of persistent trains, but few fireballs. Currently, a waning gibbous moon will severely affect this shower, reducing hourly rates to less than 10.
While the time each shower is best seen remains much the same year after year, the moonlight conditions change considerably from one year to the next. With 84% of the moon lit last night, the viewing conditions here in the Phoenix area were not ideal. Combine that with the fact that the viewing is best after midnight (and this ol' boy is asleep before that), I did not see any meteors last night.
It was a clear night here; I did sit in the hot tub facing south, leaned back to get a good view of the southern sky. Didn't see any meteors, but it was relaxing.
The eta Aquariids are active until later this month, but that activity drops off significantly over that time.
A file photo courtesy of NASA...
Looking back, there are two memorable times getting to see significant meteor showers: one was while in Baja California, Mexico, on the beach in our motorhome. No other light around, and a dark sky. The other was while out on the net of the Corsair sailing trimaran we had at the time. Similar situation with no other lights around, but even more comfortable while laying on the net, covered under a blanket.
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