Are we there yet?

The Leonids Meteor Shower was last night and early this morning. In North America it was supposed to start at around 11:00 p.m. Monday, with the peak being sometime around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday. Well, I say "start," but what was really happening was not that the meteors were moving any faster or any differently than they always are, but that the Earth was moving through them, which I thought was pretty cool.

So I stayed up until 11:00 last night. I started at about 10:30, and went out to see if there was anything to see, but there wasn't. I tried again at 10:45, and then for the last time at 11:00. I didn't drive out to the country, of course, I just stood out on the sidewalk, and I'm sure the ambient lights didn't help, and neither did the full moon. Still, I had hoped to see something. I guess we weren't there yet.

It didn't occur to me to set my alarm for dawn, not that I would have, probably . . . When I woke up this morning, it was about 6:00 a.m., and I did get up and look out the window, but the sun was already coming up, and I couldn't see anything then, either.

Tonight there's a lunar eclipse at midnight, but there's not much chance I'll stay awake for that. It's just a shame that all these things happen after dark . . .