Star gazers depend on clear skies, and the dust storm that covered LIGO on the evening of August 12 brought temporary dismay to those who journeyed to the site for a night of meteor viewing. Fortunately the dust and clouds dissipated at the onset of full darkness, leaving the Milky Way nicely visible and providing a steady stream of 'shooting stars' for viewers of all ages.

The photos above, taken by LIGO Caltech scientist Rana Adhikari, show the arrival of the dust storm and the replacement of blue sky with brown haze. High winds from the north ensured that visibility would remain in the 1000-foot range for the next several hours. Nonetheless over 200 intrepid meteor-hunters braved the windblown, tumbleweed-strewn route from the Tri-Cities to LIGO.

The weather moved phase one of the evening's program indoors, where visitors discussed telescopes with Tri-City Astronomy Club members and perused a variety of astronomy literature at the Club's display table. "Einstein Revealed" played on the large screen in the auditorium, and a number of guests strolled over to LHO's main instrument building for some hands-on time with several new interactive exhibits.

At 10:00 PM all participants moved to the auditorium for a one-hour talk on meteors by Tri-City Herald Astronomy Columnist Roy Gephart. Roy covered all the meteor essentials, including how showers are formed, how they are named and how to best view them. At the close of the talk the audience was delighted to find that the sky had cleared and the winds had calmed. Many brought out lawn chairs, sleeping bags and red flashlights and settled in for several hours of sky watching. The meteor frequency didn't match the 2004 shower, but many in this year's edition left long glowing trails. Although taken during an earlier shower, the Roy Gephart photo below is representative of the best meteors in the 2005 event.