It felt almost scandalous—sneaking off at 3 a.m. for my first-ever meteor watch. Just me, Paul, and Mary at the fairgrounds, bundled in the dark and scanning the sky.
They had ultra-sleek zero gravity lounge chairs and fancy green laser pointers. I had… a mat and my bare finger, which is apparently useless for pointing out meteors in the dark. Noted.
And the mosquitoes? Oh. My. God.
Despite full-body clothing and repeated repellent applications, I was absolutely devoured. They bit through my clothes. They ignored the spray. Paul said if mosquitoes like you, there may be no repelling them—a fact I later confirmed through some doomscrolling of my own.
That certainly aligns with my experience. As usual, I was the main course.
Still… it was weirdly fun.
What You Should Know About Meteor Showers
First lesson for my fellow newbies: meteor shower ≠ meteor storm. If you’re expecting a sky full of blazing fireballs, that’s timelapse photography (or a rare storm—the last big one was in the 1960s). What you actually get is an occasional flash or streak every few minutes, with lulls in between.
That said, we did get some good ones. I didn’t count, but Paul did (thank goodness someone did). Over 2.5 hours, he logged 87 meteors—mostly from the Southern Delta Aquariids (SDA), Perseids (PER), and sporadics (SPOs). We even saw a bright -1 magnitude Southern Delta Aquariid with a long trail, and a vivid Eta Eridanids (ERI) meteor with a smoke trail behind it.
The skies were clear. The breeze was nice. Venus and Jupiter rose in the east while Orion snuck up behind them. And despite the ground being hard and my flesh being a mosquito feast, I was stunned by how fast the time passed. I thought I’d stay an hour. I stayed until 5:40.
The photo at the top? That’s this very moment—Venus blazing, Orion creeping in, and me thinking “no way I’m staying till 5:30”… then doing exactly that.
Would I do it again? … Absolutely, but maybe with some upgrades.
Wish List for Next Time:
Next time, I plan to come better prepared—not just with snacks and stamina, but with a few strategic upgrades. If there’s no such thing as a mosquito-repelling forcefield, these are the next best things:
- A zero gravity chair, so I’m not lying on the asphalt like a camping rookie
- A green laser pointer, so I can actually point at stuff without yelling “next to that kinda bright star”
- A Thermacell mosquito repeller to create a bug-free zone (These come highly recommended by seasoned campers.)
- A bottle of permethrin spray for clothing, because apparently spray alone doesn’t cut it when you’re prime mosquito real estate
- Some mosquito-repellent clothing, ideally with mesh hood—and full commitment to being a walking fashion violation
Still—it was a beautiful night, and I’m glad I went.
Even if I came home with stars in my eyes and bug bites on literally everything else.
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