Come join Karen and me in Back Creek and enjoy Mother Nature's show, the Perseids Meteor Shower.  Our plan is to anchor in the vicinity of Goodwin Islands and Red "10" (37°12.688'N 076°24.810'W).  There is plenty of room to anchor both area and depth. We are planning a cocktail hour (or two) on board Navy Lady at 5pm. The advantage of a larger trawler is there is plenty of room to sit and deck space if the group becomes large. Please bring your favorite drinks, and appetizers to share. An Uber dinghy may be arranged so don't be shy to ask if you do not have a way to get to the group.  Please RSVP to tjetheri@gmail.com.  

The Perseids Meteor Shower was active last year and we observed a number of showers in addition to single streaks from the bow of the boat.  We will be near a new moon so we will have the advantage of a darker sky. In a dark sky, you may see up to 60 meteors per hour at the shower's peak. Meteor numbers increase after midnight, but there will be plenty to see before midnight! Be aware that the Perseid meteors will start to fly in mid-to-late evening from northerly latitudes. If fortune smiles upon you, the evening hours might offer you an earth grazer - a looooong, slow, colorful meteor traveling horizontally across the evening sky. Earth grazer meteors are rare but memorable. We did see one last year around 10 pm. Perseid earth grazers appear before midnight, when the radiant point of the shower is close to the horizon.  If you trace all the Perseid meteors backward, they all seem to come from the constellation Perseus, near the famous Double Cluster. Hence, the meteor shower is named in honor of the constellation Perseus the Hero.  In ancient Greek star lore, Perseus is the son of the god Zeus and the mortal Danaë. It is said that the Perseid shower commemorates the time when Zeus visited Danaë, the mother of Perseus, in a shower of gold.

Tim Etherington
tjetheri@gmail.com