Last night was supposed to the peak of the annual Perseid Meteor Shower. Unfortunately, best viewing was forecast to be cut off early, because moonrise was not long after midnight. We went out anyway, hoping to get something, and knowing that skies in our area are anything but dark, even after driving miles from the city.

So...while the adventure was fun, the results were disappointing. The combination of light pollution and "heavy air' (high humidity) rendered my shots of the sky more like blue hour landscapes. Even reducing exposure (eventually by three and a half stops) tamed the noise, but rendered only the three or four brightest stars visible, which would not have bode well for meteors, most of which are of only very marginal brightness. The Milky Way was not visible, even though it was in a darker area of the sky.

So...we have marked in the "book" that any night sky work is going to require more travel, and we are considering an excursion next year to a true dark sky site. We will try for scheduling during one of the several meteor showers.

I hope that others who were discussing their plans had better results and will perhaps share them with us, either here or in the gallery.