San Diego Meteor Shower Observation Guide
This content was automatically generated by gpt-4o-mini (No human review). The original post is in Chinese.
The experience of observing the Perseid meteor shower on the night of August 20 this year was unbeatable. I saw over 10 spectacular fireballs in one night, along with many less impressive meteors, totaling about 30 meteors over 3-4 hours. This was my fourth time chasing a meteor shower, and I finally had a perfect experience. This blog will share my experiences from all four meteor shower observations, recommend several locations in San Diego for watching meteor showers, and provide a detailed guide!
First Meteor Shower Chase
Date: August 12, 2020 (Perseid Meteor Shower)
Location: Mt Laguna USAF Station, use this GPS navigation (32.8726566,-116.4126929), about 1 hour and 3 minutes drive from UCSD.
Route Conditions: Starting from UCSD, you will eventually drive east along Highway 8, then take Sunrise Highway up the mountain. This mountain road is quite easy to drive, with not too many turns. There is a short section on Monument Peak Rd, which is very narrow (but still barely allows for one car to pass in each direction), so drive carefully for a few hundred meters. At the end of the drive, there will be an iron gate blocking the way, and to the right of the road, there is a relatively flat dirt slope where you can park (the P point in the image below indicates the parking slope). Parking is free, and overnight parking is allowed. For more details, check the photos on Google Maps. After parking, you can walk past the iron gate (the Gate in the image below, with a small path to the right of the gate), then walk up. To the right of the road, there is a nice cement flat area (point A in the image below), and a bit further up on the left, there is a dirt path that leads to another flat area (point B in the image below), which is also quite nice.
Situation: For our first meteor shower chase, there were four of us, and we drove to Laguna Mountain. We had been here once before to see a comet, and this location is known for clear views of the Milky Way when the weather is good. Before heading out, Cuihao and I hadn’t had dinner, so we bought pizza on the way. By the time we arrived, it was getting dark, but the clouds were also thickening, and we could only faintly see the Milky Way. Just as we were eating pizza, the other two friends spotted a fireball, but we missed it because we were looking down at our food. After finishing dinner, the starry sky was completely covered by clouds. We waited for about an hour and a half, but there were still many clouds, and Cuihao and I didn’t see a single meteor. Seeing that there was no hope for the night, we decided to head back home.
PS: That night, I learned that including us, three groups of people set out from UCSD to different locations to watch meteors. One friend drove two hours east into the desert, but it was also cloudy there. Another group of friends went to Joshua Tree National Park; they probably saw quite a few meteors in the first half of the night, but clouds rolled in during the second half, and they couldn’t see anymore. The night before, on August 11, another group of friends went to the desert to watch meteors, and the weather was excellent.
The Second Meteor Shower Chase
Date: August 13, 2020 (Perseid Meteor Shower)
Location: Palomar Mountain OBSERVATORY CAMPGROUND 026, a 1 hour and 16 minute drive from UCSD.
Route Conditions: The road to Palomar Mountain is not as easy to drive as Laguna Mountain, mainly because there are more city roads, and the final mountain road is quite winding and not very easy to navigate.
Situation: The peak of the 2020 Perseid Meteor Shower was supposed to be on the night of August 12, but I seem to have made a mistake, so we booked the campsite for August 13 in advance, planning to camp and watch the meteors at the same time. We arrived at the campsite around 5 PM, set up the tent, and had a simple dinner (instant noodles with a fried egg). We found a flat area with a good view, laid out the inflatable mattress and pillows, set up the GoPro for time-lapse photography, played some music, and quietly waited for the sky to darken, anticipating the arrival of the meteor shower. The weather was quite nice that night, and we saw nearly 20 meteors in three hours, including 3 fireballs!! It was my first time seeing a fireball, and it was truly spectacular, with an incredibly bright and long tail. Cuihao and I lay there listening to music and chatting, almost staring at the sky for three hours straight. It was totally worth it! Around midnight, we washed up and went to sleep, leaving my GoPro to capture the night. To my surprise, my GoPro actually caught a few meteors.
The two images above show the meteors I captured with the GoPro time-lapse. You can see one in the lower left corner and another on the right, with the very bright object being the moon. This is the time-lapse video my GoPro recorded. You can’t really see the meteors in the video, but if you carefully look through the individual photos, I actually found 2 meteors.
PS: There were too many mosquitoes at Palomar Mountain in the summer. Before sunset, there were a lot of mosquitoes buzzing around us, but they disappeared after sunset. However, the next day when we went hiking, we got bitten all over in the valley, and it was itchy for a week after we got home.
The Third Meteor Shower Chase
Date: December 14, 2020 (Geminid Meteor Shower)
Location: Blair Valley (33.0374624,-116.4105363), a 1 hour and 33 minute drive from UCSD
Route Conditions: This location is in the desert, on the way to Blair Valley Campground, but we were too scared to drive into the dirt road (worried about getting stuck), so we parked by the cement road and didn’t venture further in. I thought this road was also quite difficult to drive on, with many twists and turns that made me feel car sick (and Google Maps led us down a ridiculous little path).
Situation: It was December, and the temperature in the desert at night can drop to 0 degrees Celsius, making it extremely cold. So we dressed in layers before coming, wearing at least three layers of clothing (including down jackets), two pairs of pants, and accessories like gloves, scarves, and hats. I also brought a 30F sleeping bag and a telescope. This location felt quite eerie, with many small animals nearby. As soon as we parked, we heard the sounds of wild animals, likely coyotes, which scared us into not wanting to stray too far from the car. Additionally, cars occasionally passed by on the roadside, causing quite a bit of light pollution. I ended up lying on the sleeping pad, snuggling into my sleeping bag. Cuihao was busy adjusting his telescope. We arrived at 9 PM and stayed until midnight, watching for a total of three hours and seeing about 20 meteors. As the night progressed, the temperature dropped, and there was frost on the sleeping bag and seats. In comparison, watching meteors in the summer is a much better experience; this time, the freezing cold, winding roads, and wild animals made it quite challenging.
The Fourth Meteor Shower Chase
Date: Evening of August 11, 2021 (Perseid Meteor Shower)
Location: The usual spot, Mt Laguna USAF Station, (32.8726566,-116.4126929)
Route Conditions: Refer to the details from the first meteor shower chase.
Battle Situation: I already spoiled the outcome of this perfect meteor shower night at the beginning of the article: we saw over 10 breathtaking fireballs in one night, and in about 3-4 hours, we spotted around 30 meteors in total. Let me recap the preparations for this event.
Equipment
We brought the following gear: 1 beach mat, 2 camping sleeping pads, 2 large pillows, 1 sleeping bag rated for 15 degrees Celsius, 2 camping chairs, 1 astronomical telescope, each person brought 2 jackets of different thicknesses, wore long pants, brought 2 headlamps (with red light, which protects night vision), and packed a lot of food including a watermelon, a Bluetooth speaker, water, and some common outdoor gear like a First Aid Kit. At first, everyone thought I was overdoing it, bringing so many clothes and a sleeping bag—was it really necessary for a summer night? They were wearing shorts and t-shirts at home. However, once we got to the mountain, the temperature dropped sharply, and everyone quickly put on their jackets. Later, the wind at the summit was quite strong, and I was glad I could crawl into my sleeping bag.
Timing
The peak of this meteor shower was on the night of August 11. We set off at 6:30 PM, stopped for pizza on the way, and arrived at the destination around 8 PM. I didn’t expect that arriving too late would mean no parking spots; surprisingly, when we got there at 8, only 3-4 cars were parked, and a group of people was even having a party in the parking lot (later, some friends who arrived after us told me they were watching a movie). Walking up from the iron gate, we found that the concrete area A had already been occupied by another group, so we walked up a bit, turned left onto a small dirt path, and set up our beach mat on a flat area B, along with our chairs and telescope. To our surprise, the view here was also quite good. At this point, the sky wasn’t very dark, and it looked like there was a layer of clouds above; the Milky Way wasn’t very prominent, so we started eating pizza and watermelon. By around 9 PM, the sky darkened significantly, and the Milky Way became very clear, alleviating our worries about cloud cover blocking the stars (the tragedy from a year ago at the same location did not happen again, and this time it was the same group of 4 people). Starting from 9 PM, we began to see some meteors and fireballs intermittently, and we continued watching until nearly midnight before packing up and driving home. We arrived home around 1 AM.
Weather
The weather was very good for watching the meteor shower this time, from 9 PM to 12 AM, there were basically no clouds. Before going, Cuihao checked several weather websites, which showed mostly clear skies.
How can you determine the weather conditions for the night before you go? Here are a few websites to share.
Windy allows you to view cloud maps and see the changes in cloud cover over the past 24 hours, as well as forecasts.
You can search for the sky observation conditions at your desired location, such as the Mt Laguna page.
You can check the hourly temperature, like the temperature forecast for Mt Laguna. It also provides real-time cloud maps and historical cloud data.
PS: Due to my GoPro being broken and my laziness, I didn’t take a single photo during this meteor shower observation. The perfect experience of this meteor shower was mainly thanks to Cuihao; otherwise, I might not have had the motivation to go.
Tips for a Perfect Meteor Shower Viewing Experience
Looking back at our experiences of chasing meteor showers over the past year, I’ve summarized that to achieve a perfect meteor shower viewing experience, the following conditions need to be met:
- Confirm the peak date of the meteor shower (it’s best to go on the peak day, but the day before or after can also be considered).
- Find a place with low light pollution and an open view in advance (it’s best to know the route and parking information, and to scout the location beforehand).
- Ensure good weather with no clouds (you can check the situation in advance using weather websites).
- Bring enough warm gear, clothes, and blankets (even on summer nights, the temperature in the mountains can drop to around 10 degrees).
- Bring a sleeping pad and pillow to lie down (sitting up can really strain your neck).
- Bring snacks, fruits, drinks, and music, and invite a few friends to chat while watching the sky (otherwise, it might get boring).
Watching meteor showers requires patience, often needing to stare at the sky for several hours, so lying down is essential. It’s best to have friends to chat with to pass the time, watching the Milky Way slowly move across the sky, and suddenly a meteor streaks by—this experience is truly amazing.
Watching meteor showers also requires a bit of luck; if the sky is cloudy, the viewing experience will be greatly diminished. If you check the cloud map before going and see that the weather is likely to be terrible that night, you might consider canceling the trip and going the next night instead, or choosing a location with clearer weather (this means you should prepare several backup locations in advance, which might also mean driving several more hours, as weather conditions are often similar in nearby spots). Of course, you can also choose a nearby place to take a chance, but be mentally prepared for the possibility of seeing nothing.
For viewing locations near San Diego, I highly recommend Laguna Mountain USAF Station (32.8726566,-116.4126929). It’s about an hour’s drive, the roads are very easy to navigate, there’s free parking, and the stargazing spot is quite safe.
Finally, I wish everyone a perfect meteor shower viewing experience!
