h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://science.nasa.gov/NEWHOME/headlines/ast04dec98_1.htm

You're finishing my sentences for me.

An ideal couple?

Thanks Gnomon, I've made myself a reminder for 13th.

That sounds like a good one, I'll be watching!

I was up early on Sunday morning, and I saw a handful of meteors, but it was a bit of a damp squib, I'm afraid. I had mentioned it in ASK beforehand, but I now feel like the guy who has brought home an incredibly bad DVD to watch with friends thinking that it would be great. Ever get that feeling?

That said the skies were absolutely still - it was a magnificent night. Saturn was very prominent at that time and I could hear an bat flying by every so often, as he picked me up on his radar.

...and you call that a damp squib?



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I would rather have an alert and be disappointed, than miss a would-be brilliant show.

Yes, at least you thought to bring the DVD, Woodpigeon. You could have brought Buckaroo and a bag of crisps.

Am I stretching this metaphor too far?

Oh yes indeedy, I can take that metaphor and run with it: "OK, so no DVD's: they were all crap, but hey - heeeeeres a game of Ludo! Go on, you know you want to!" - (Imagine Graham Norton in Ailwee cave and you get the idea).

Kind of delighted that Gnomon mentioned the Geminids...

Actually, that was more Graham Norton dressed up as a priest in a caravan

I'm glad too - the Geminids sound like some sort of gallstone to the unitiated...

You never saw the "So, who can screech the loudest" episode? Richard Wilson - "I don't BELIEVE it"? Oh, ok...

(makes mental note, stores it, mutters something hideously inappropriate, sighs. Youth of Today)

Oh, you mean 'I don't believe you!'

Thanks for telling us about the Geminids. Now: will they be visible in Germany? If so, I can suggest them to my son (the poor student) as a birthday present to his girlfriend whose birthday is on the 13th. Spectacular (hopefully!) and cost nothing! And they live in a converted loft, so they can watch them from their windows.

Traveller in Time on his head
"What I read on the external sites is they can not predict the visibility of the shooting stars. Also the date is the average optimal, no guarantee the best view is not a day early (1998). "

I've booked myself into an evening at my boyfriend's house - there are no streetlights and his is the last house but one before the fields take over, so nice and dark!