Catch A Falling Star: The Perseids Meteor Shower

If you missed the Perseids meteor shower last week, you missed an amazing experience that is cheap, and pretty much hassle free …. No plane tickets or hotel reservations required. ..  Nothing to purchase and very little planning required.  Unless you live in an extremely “lighted” area, all you have to do is step outside your residence.    The purpose of this post is to give you a few pointers on meteor watching especially if you decide to try to view the Perseids meteor shower next year. It is an annual event that occurs every August usually around the time of the local barbecue bash.

I am no astronomer…. (Turns out you have to have decent mathematical ability …. I still don’t know the difference between the C and MR on a calculator.)   And the only knowledge I gained from a school field trip to the local science center observatory was the fact that I did indeed snore according to one teacher. So although as a teenager, my thoughts were more preoccupied with the tabloid stars rather than the celestial ones,   I never stopped being fascinated by the stars
in the sky. 

A few years ago, I learned about the yearly Perseids event and started marking it on my calendar right up there with birthdays and holidays.  The first time I viewed it, I saw meteors by the dozen …. Too many to count. I later found out that there were an unusually high number of meteors observed that year and not too typical of what the average spectator sees. There are other meteor showers but the most spectacular one is the Perseids shower. It is “sparked” every August when the Earth passes through a stream of space debris left by the comet Swift-Tuttle.  (I'm still not too sure about the difference between a comet, a meteor and a “shooting star”.)   You may not feel the earth move under your feet … unless you live in California… but move it does.   To get accurate and specific information on this and other celestial events, there are several organizations, both local and national that you can contact including NASA.  Prior to my “viewing” last week, I Googled “meteor showers” which took me to an excellent website www.space.com. This site provided the where, when, and how to view the Perceids shower and although I had experienced the event before, it gave specifics on this year’s “happening”.  The following information is a very basic and unscientific scenario of what you might expect should you decide to see the event the next time around and how to prepare for it.

The first thing you need to do is research on the Internet or contact the local astronomy club for information. An excellent local source is The Harford County Astronomical Society located on the grounds of in .  www.harfordastro.org. They have meetings and hold some public
events where you can view the planets, moon, and stars.  Founded in 1970, they are affiliated with the Astronomical Society www.astroleague.org   according to their website.  The Night Sky Network http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/about.cfm
is another excellent source of information.

Usually, meteor showers do not coincide with your work schedule, your kid’s school schedule or your sleep schedule so be prepared to either stay up late or get up early (and by early I mean 3 am).  Also be prepared to be absent from work the following day. This is because you will probably be stumbling around and
looking like a zombie. (If you’re a surgeon, truck driver, or machine operator,
you should definitely stay home from work. As a matter of fact, I think the day following the Perseids Shower, should be declared an international holiday to keep people drowsy people off the roads.)     If you are asked what happened to you and why you look so tired, you can reply that you got up early for an early shower.  (Let them think you have some kind of obsession with cleanliness….)

Getting back to the “To Do” list ……..Gather you supplies… You will need an alarm clock to wake up.  There is often about a two hour period when the meteors  appear but they are not like trains with a regular schedule (are trains ever on time anyway?) You may see five in one half hour period and then no more for the rest of your outing so you need to be outside on time even if the meteors are not.  You also need something to lie down on like a blanket or use a reclining lawn chair.  I use a cheap one dollar plastic poncho and cut it up. If your plan is to sit and wait in a regular chair, I would also recommend scheduling an appointment with a chiropractor because the planets may be in alignment but your back and neck sure won’t be the following day.   The best method is to view a large section of the sky in a horizontal position on the ground. (A pillow might be helpful.)  You will definitely need a warm hat and sweatshirt even in August.  It gets cold and you have to allow at least twenty minutes for your eyes to adjust to the dark before you will be able to view the meteors.  Each time you go inside your house for more supplies, you need to spend another twenty minutes for your eye adjustment. Some months you’ll need gloves, long underwear and heavy socks. Take a flashlight so you don’t stumble and end up “seeing stars “instead of viewing them. You should have your house keys so you can get back inside but remove your car keys first if they are on the same chain.   You could accidentally, hit the “panic button” on your car key while fumbling around in the dark. (Don’t think my neighbors wanted to get up quite that early that day).  Your cell phone is important to have in case of emergency but be careful you don’t accidentally “butt dial” someone at 4 am while all you are really trying to do is see what time it is. (Wonder if we’re still friends)   

Another item that you may want to bring is a cardboard box (with cutouts for your eyes) to cover your head. It looks ridiculous but can be used to block out all those lamppost lights that remain on all night.  These lights, along with the moon, are the biggest barriers to sky viewing in my neighborhood. I now know the meaning of the phrase, “light pollution.” The box is effective but can be a bit awkward.  (It can also scare the heck out of someone if you are seen by an unsuspecting neighbor who rises early for that morning commute).  A better alternative may be assuming this position: Bend both of your arms at the elbows and bring them up to your eye level. Clasp both hands behind your neck. If you are lying flat on your back and doing this, it will block out those darn street lights.  There’s not too much you can do about the moon.   If you are lucky, it won’t be a moonlit night. If the moon is visible but low in the sky (close to the horizon) it can make for better meteor spotting. That’s why, often those “in the know” will tell you that the best time to spot a meteor is in the two or three hours before dawn. But, if the moon is full and pretty high in the sky, the trick is to locate a spot in your yard where the view of the moon is obstructed by a tall tree or a building. This will effectively block a lot of the glow from the moon.    Once you have eliminated most of the bright lights, you just have to hope for a clear dark sky.

Picture this……. you are lying flat on your back with either a box on your head or your hands locked behind your head to block out lights. You look up at the sky and wait.   What you don’t want to use is binoculars or a telescope to view meteors.  You need to view a large area of the sky and watch carefully. Meteors streak by very quickly and there’s no time to focus using anything but your eyes. (Hopefully, you haven’t delayed getting that cataract surgery.)  You can either select a specific area of the sky and concentrate on that or use the “tennis match” viewing system by turning your head from one section of the sky to the other.  I prefer the later system if only so my neck doesn’t get stiff.

How do you know exactly what section of the sky to look at? That’s where those astronomy websites can help.    Every time I’ve viewed the Perseids meteors
they seem to originate from the northeast. I have been told not to look northeast but northwest because the “steaks” are more visible as they travel away from what appears to be the point of origin called the radiant.   I almost forgot to mention one of the most important supplies…. A compass.  I have to confess that before I started looking for meteors, I didn’t know north from south or east from west.  (I knew the sun rose in either east or west and set in the opposite direction but never really noticed because by the time I went to work, it was already up.)The websites will tell you exactly where in the sky the meteors will appear and in relation to which constellations. This did not help that much because I never could figure out where the constellations were in the sky …..I couldn’t visualize them. I just couldn’t see a bull (Taurus) or lion (Leo) floating around up there.  (Never saw Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds either. There’s only one constellation location that I’m pretty sure of ….. It’s the ship docked at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore.) Maybe if instead of bulls and lions, there would be images of Mickey Mouse or Brad Pitt in the sky, I’d have better luck locating them.  But right now, those “celestial pictures” remind me of modern art.  See that splat of paint that just sold for a million dollars? Well to me, it’s just a splat of paint. (Guess I’m more into Norman Rockwell than Picasso).  Anyway, the information is available if you want to do some research.  

Another annoying thing is how everything in the sky keeps moving around.  Just when you figure out where Taurus or Venus is, they move!  (Kind of reminds me of my husband complaining about how food keeps changing locations in our refrigerator.  Does he really think that the eggs, butter and cheese get together to “party down” and play “musical chairs” after the door is closed and the light goes out? And how does anyone know if the light in the refrigerator really does go out after you close the door? ) Of course  I know that  it’s actually the earth  moving  that causes the change of constellation locations….something about making day become night and vice versa. (Then again, maybe my vertigo has returned and nothing is moving.)  I really should have listened in science class but was always more of a music freak. The song says, “The sun will come up tomorrow….”   But it doesn’t tell you in what direction it will come up. (Gotta find that compass.)

For those who are interested in sharing your experience and exchanging
information, there are plenty of websites where you can “chat” with people from
all over the world about what you are seeing.  Twitter is also used for this.  But for me, the   experience is mostly a solitary one.  On a practical level, unless you are in the midst of a huge shower of meteors, by the time you call for your family to look up, the meteor has already passed by.  Besides, it’s nice to be alone just listening to the sounds of the night…. crickets, the whistle of a far off train and the smell of the grass. (Speaking of grass, if there are dogs in your neighborhood make sure you pick a “deposit free” spot to recline or you may have to go back inside the house to “take a shower” rather than “watch” one.)  You can also learn some interesting things so early in the morning….   The very first bird in my neighborhood wakes up at 4:40 am.  It’s ironic that the bird that tweets me awake when I’m trying to sleep late while inside the house, is suddenly very endearing when both of us are outside.  (But I have to confess that the closer it gets to 5 am, the colder it seems to get.  I find myself checking the time a little more often as that long awaited cup of coffee becomes almost as attractive as spotting that one last meteor.)

In addition to supplies, the most important thing to bring with you is patience.  For the Perseids shower, you have to wait until those few days in August. Then you have to wait for the right time in the early morning hours to view the display.  You have to wait after you go outside for your eyes to adjust to the dark.  And last of all, you may have to wait a couple of hours to see a handful of meteors.   I guess it’s a little misleading for me to using the term, “meteor shower”.  Except for that one year when I viewed many, what I have seen the last two years has been more like a “meteor trickle”.  Here’s my final count:   Friday morning, August 12…..  Got up at 3:30 am and went outside ten minutes later. Between 4 am and 5:05 am saw nine meteors. Went inside around 5:30 am.  Saturday morning August 13, kept the same schedule and saw five meteors between 4 am and 4:15 am.  These were more breathtaking than the previous night because they occurred so close together.  But although I remained outside until 5:30 am,   I was unable to see any meteors that morning. Unfortunately, the closer it got to daybreak, those “cotton candy” clouds rolled in.  I wished I could sweep them away from view like you would a spider web and kept changing my location on the lawn but the once dark sky wasn’t so dark any more.

Meteors look like fast moving white streaks in the sky.  If you want to get a better visualization but don’t want to go through the process of staying awake etc, you can do one of two things.  Go to Disney World’s Space Mountain roller coaster.  You don’t need to actually get on the ride because while you are waiting to board, you wait in an enclosed area with lots of other people called a queue.  If you look up, you will see simulated meteors in the ceiling above you.  For me, this looks like the real deal.  

The other thing you can do is go online and see pictures on any number of sites.  There is a website that as of today has some wonderful pictures of this year’s Perseids shower.  It is http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/197539/20110814/perseid-meteor-shower-2011-in-case-you-missed-it-breathtaking-views-of.htm .  I imagine www.youtube.com probably has some excellent videos as well.   Pictures and videos can be quite good but are a poor substitute for seeing the meteors yourself.

But I do have to warn you that if you’re looking for a spectacle with color and sound that hangs around awhile in the sky, you might be disappointed. For that kind of sensory experience, I would suggest either attending a fireworks display or visually tracking a low flying airplane at night.

It’s hard to explain but while you are outside waiting, watching, and listening, you really do feel like “you are a part of the universe”. And it’s kind of amazing that everyone on this earth whether they are standing on ground in China or New York City are all underneath the same sky.  Think there was a song about that…., “Somewhere Out there” from some cartoon movie years ago.  There’s also that famous quotation by motivational speaker, Les Brown, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”……   (“Not such a bad place to land”, is what I’m thinking.)

To summarize, meteors and other celestial bodies are always out there surrounding us. It’s just that we can’t see them in the light of day. But given a dark sky and the right conditions, they are visible some of the time if we just have the patience and desire to see them.   

So there I was outside on the ground, contemplating all this and how it seems to parallel the “miracles and angels are all around us” view on life. I was feeling quite the intellect….. that is until I heard a thump and looked up to see the newspaper that landed near me in the yard.  That brought me back to reality and the fact that it was cold. By then it was 5:30 am, the meteor shower had ended (along with my philosophical session) and another type of nature was beckoning me to quickly return to the house. 

(I later heard there was a report of a possible body laying in the front yard in a local neighborhood. Sounded ominous…. Could it be someone was hurt or possibly had a bit too much to drink? Funny thing though…..  when they went to investigate, the body in question had disappeared.  Was it a hoax?  My guess is, “no”.  The body probably just went back inside their home for a much needed cup of coffee… and a shower.

This whole experience has left just one important question unanswered.   Although I sometimes do ponder the meaning of life and am still curious about what lies over the rainbow, all I really want to know is, “Where have all the lightning bugs gone?”  If anyone has any thoughts on this, please let me know.