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| Perseids |
 Title text: Recently I've been watching the Daytime Perseids. I haven't seen a meteor from them yet, but the clouds are pretty and the snacks are good. |
Explanation
The Perseids are a meteor shower that appear every August, reaching their highest point on August 12th. This comic was posted a week after then, and hence revolves around the characters missing seeing them. White Hat suggests they see the Geminids instead, which are a meteor shower that appears every December, usually peaking around December 14. In North America, since it is relatively cold at night at that time of year, it is not as convenient to view them, which Cueball points out.
The suggestion that the Perseids might be 'late' is highly improbable, since the timing is dependent on Earth's progression along its orbit, making the timing highly predictable (barring some likely-catastrophic event changing that orbit). However, it turns out that the group is using the idea of watching a meteor shower as an excuse for lying on a beach and gazing at the sky, even when it is not actually possible to see them. Even an ordinary sky can be full of beauty to the right viewer. Additional humor is added by Megan's comment that the sky has a "normal number" of meteors, which the comic depicts as one. Arguably, any non-zero quantity of meteors is cool. Under good conditions (no light pollution), a normal number of meteors in an evening is about 2-4 per hour in March and 4-8 in September. During a meteor shower this can increase to 50-100 at the peak.
The title text references the fictional "Daytime Perseids". That no meteors are seen during this notional meteor shower is expected: the light from a burning meteor would normally be drowned out by the light of the Sun, rendering them unseeable. However, clouds are visible during the day, giving an excuse to watch them instead (and eat snacks).
Transcript
- [Megan, Cueball, and White Hat are standing in a group, with Cueball and White Hat looking at each other, and Megan standing behind Cueball.]
- Cueball: I'm sad that we missed the Perseids.
- White Hat: There's still the Geminids.
- Cueball: Yeah, but they're in December.
- [Zoom in on Cueball, who's now facing left.]
- Cueball: The Perseids happen when it's warm enough to lie outside with a blanket, and we found a good mosquito-free beach. So we just lie around watching the stars and eating snacks. One year we saw the aurora.
- [Zoom back out. Cueball is still facing left, and White Hat is now putting his hand to his chin in thought.]
- Megan: You know, I think I heard that the Perseids might be late this year.
- White Hat: Yeah, actually, I heard that too.
- [Scene change to Megan, Cueball, and White Hat on the aforementioned beach during a very starry night. The sky near the horizon is grey, fading to black by the top of the panel. Megan and Cueball are both lying on mats, feet to the right. White Hat is sitting with his knees up, leaning on one arm and resting the other on his knee. Behind Megan's head is a drink cup with a bent straw, and bowls of snacks are behind the heads of the other two. A meteor is crossing the sky, toward the left.]
- (Box in the top left): Later...
- Megan: Hm, seems like a normal number of meteors. Guess I heard wrong.
- Cueball: Maybe the Perseids are next weekend.
- White Hat: Oh, good thinking. Let's come back then, just in case.
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