Guaco report Aug 9
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Arvind K
Aug 10, 2025, 8:30:54 PM8/10/25
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I was at Guaco last night (Fri, Aug 9) after an event in Hollister, hoping to catch the Perseids.
Conditions weren’t ideal - smoke from a nearby (mostly contained) fire and Guaco’s usual light pollution made for poor transparency, with only the brightest stars visible. M4 (which usually offers a nice view from these locations) was just a faint smudge through my 10x52 binoculars, and by 9:30 pm, the rising moon behind the hills washed everything out.
Lying on my camping cot while my friend sat in a zero-gravity chair, we watched with the naked eye and spotted just two meteors in our 30-minute window (after astro dark started & before the moon came up above the hills). The second meteor was unforgettable: a thick blue tail shifting to orange-red, spanning easily over 45 deg (likely closer to 60 degrees) in just over a second. I’m pretty sure I saw two parallel bright-blue streaks in that tail, flaring orange-red almost simultaneously before vanishing. We both shouted “WOW” as we packed up for the two-hour drive back. Even with the low count, that single meteor made the trip entirely worthwhile.
Best of luck to those trying in the next few days - but I’d hold off on Guaco until the smoke clears, unless you already have another reason to be nearby.
Conditions weren’t ideal - smoke from a nearby (mostly contained) fire and Guaco’s usual light pollution made for poor transparency, with only the brightest stars visible. M4 (which usually offers a nice view from these locations) was just a faint smudge through my 10x52 binoculars, and by 9:30 pm, the rising moon behind the hills washed everything out.
Lying on my camping cot while my friend sat in a zero-gravity chair, we watched with the naked eye and spotted just two meteors in our 30-minute window (after astro dark started & before the moon came up above the hills). The second meteor was unforgettable: a thick blue tail shifting to orange-red, spanning easily over 45 deg (likely closer to 60 degrees) in just over a second. I’m pretty sure I saw two parallel bright-blue streaks in that tail, flaring orange-red almost simultaneously before vanishing. We both shouted “WOW” as we packed up for the two-hour drive back. Even with the low count, that single meteor made the trip entirely worthwhile.
Best of luck to those trying in the next few days - but I’d hold off on Guaco until the smoke clears, unless you already have another reason to be nearby.
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