August 11, 2009

The Perseids are Coming! The Perseids are Coming!

If you've been reading along for a little while you know I'm a fan of meteor showers. They're free, they're entertaining and they let your imagination drift away into the heavens. That said, tonight and tomorrow night, planet Earth will be drifting through a big cosmic dust bunny left by Comet Swift-Tuttle. All those little bits of debris will be entering our atmosphere approximately where the constellation Perseus appears overhead. Don't worry if you don't know your star locations, the best plan of attack is to just lie in a lawn chair or on a blanket and look up. If you're in a region free from light pollution you may see dozens of meteors per hour. That means a lot of wishing!

If you'd like to learn a little more about the Perseid meteor shower, click here for an article from NASA.

Thanks for the reminder, Abbie!



Image credit: Dreamstimefree 2776047: Moon-Star

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