International Space Station

Much of the day was rather grey, cool and blowy so I didn't even bother to get the camera out. In the early evening Pete reminded us that tonight was the peak time for the Perseid meteor shower. It was still pretty cloudy, and I didn't hold out much hope that we'd see anything.

But, miraculously, as the sun set the clouds cleared, so just after 10pm we set off to the Great Fen, armed with cocoa and blankets, to do some skywatching. There were plenty of meteors, and indeed the boys saw some before we'd even left the front garden. And although it seemed pretty dark at our site there was still quite a lot of light pollution which made photography a bit challenging.

Not long after we arrived a very bright object was visible which crossed the Milky Way before gradually disappearing. I had a hunch that this was the International Space Station, and this was later confirmed by searching the internet. We also saw quite a few normal satellites (two of which are also shown in this image) and plenty of meteors, including a scatter of spectacularly bright fireballs. So did I manage to get an image of a meteor? You'll have to check tomorrow's enttry to find out!!