Well, another year has come and gone, and I’ve essentially missed the excitement of the damn meteor shower…again. This year, however, I did make a point to take a late-night drive out east of town last night to see what I could find up in the heavens.
After several stops along a dark highway, trying not to look conspicuous while simultaneously blocking my eyes from the blinding assault of trucker headlights, I may have actually seen one shooting star soar across the sky above me.
Either that, or a random reflection in the lens of my glasses!
According to Science@NASA:
“It’s going to be a great show,” says Bill Cooke of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center. “The Moon is new on August 12th–which means no moonlight, dark skies and plenty of meteors.” How many? Cooke estimates one or two Perseids per minute at the shower’s peak.
Maybe my timing was just plain wrong, but I was disappointed nonetheless. Oh well, perhaps I’ll have better luck in mid-December when the Geminids peak.
Here are some other interesting links for your information:
Happy Stargazing!
