the perseids cometh grouse beware

Mon, Aug 10, 2009

This Tuesday night sees the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower, when we pass through Comet Swift-Tuttle’s dustiness. There’s a handy peak flux calculator here. Choose number 7 Perseids and your location/year etc. Here’s the peak for Skye:

with peaks around 21:30 (too light) and 2am (bit early!) although further south in Glasgow it’s looking a bit better:

with the peak occurring around 23:00 which is nice and dark. Look for them just south of Cassiopeia:

They are a spectacular sight unless you’re an unfortunate grouse as the Scuzzball Season will be starting as the Perseids reach their maximum. As the sky is streaked with cosmic wonder, the hills will be filling with chinless wonders dribbling over the “..biggest shootable surplus since 2003…” subject to “…appropriate harvesting levels…” leading to “…a purple passage for grouse and the hills…”. No doubt down to the increase in Eagle poisonings, beaver shootings and sundry other massacres, I have a word or two of advice for that lot. Why don’t you take your Weapons of Mass Destruction and shove them as far up your PURPLE PASSAGE as you can? SIDEWAYS!