Although it is still a few days until the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, the combination of exceptionally clear skies and a waxing moon illuminating the interior of the Grand Canyon was too good to ignore. So we headed up to the South Rim arriving shortly after dark. Most folks had already left so we had the spot mostly to ourselves for the evening.

The wind was blowing a gentle breeze which kept bugs away. The evening temperature was comfortable—if not exactly warm. So we lay back on the rocks at the very edge of the canyon staring up at the stars and watched as a few meteors arced across the sky. This many days before the peak of the shower results in only a few Perseids per hour (compared to the maximum rate of up to a hundred per hour) but there were also “sporadics” (i.e., a meteor which is not associated with one of the regularly recurring meteor showers) to light up the sky.

This is a composite of two images taken a few minutes apart. There are two meteors visible: a Perseid in the constellation Cassiopeia and a very bright sporadic closer to the horizon.

The hourly rate should increase over the next few nights but the nearly full moon will make it difficult to see any but the brightest.