Catch A Falling Star

Last August, we observed the annual Perseids meteor shower, a celestial light show in which "shooting stars" blaze in rapid succession or in brilliant clusters- across the night sky. WOW! We realized that the Amphitheater is the perfect viewing spot for natureÕs attempt to get the attention of the people of Planet Earth! The Amphitheater, away from city lights, is the perfect place to view such expressions of the universe. Spread your blanket or lawn chair and just look up! When you're not listening to the magical and mesmerizing music of Dr. Fred Bell, you'll be listening to the "oohs and aahs" of those around you on the weekend of August 12th. Who knows, you might even see a UFO - it's been known to happen at other Fred Bell concerts. It caused us to wonder, just what is a meteor shower?

Why We have Showers

An excellent article written by David H. Levy, appeared in the January 16, 2000 edition of Parade Magazine. To paraphrase Mr. Levy: On any dark and clear night, you might see some "falling stars." These aren't really stars of course, for stars are mighty suns that shine from vast distances in space. Falling stars are tiny particles, each no larger than a grain of sand, that enter the Earth's atmosphere at speeds so high - up to 150,000 miles per hour - that they cause the air around them to glow brightly. What we see, in effect, is a high-speed collision (with Earth's atmosphere) taking place less than 80 miles above our heads.

How do meteor showers happen? The answer has to do with comets- village-sized bodies of rock, dust and ices. As comets travel close to the Sun, their ices warm and instantly become gases (as dry ice does on Earth), escaping into the comet's tail. This frees up comet dust particles, which stretch out in a second tail much like the wake of a ship. The dust slowly spreads through space, forming a ring around the Sun. And every year, as the Earth crosses this ring, its dust particles heat up in the atmosphere, briefly glow and expire- and we see a shower of meteors. Depending on the width of the band of particles, a meteor shower might last an hour or two or as long as a week.

The relatively few streams of particles we encounter each year are a tiny fraction of all the comet dust in space. For example, we never passed through the dust from Comet Hale-Bopp when it sailed by in 1997. So, no shower. Our two best meteor showers each year occur around Aug. 12 (the Perseids) and Dec. 14 (the Geminids). We name them after the constellations from which the meteors seem to come. While the meteors can appear anywhere in the sky, we can trace their paths backward to the same point in the sky: the Perseids from Perseus, the Geminids from Gemini. It's an illusion, of course, as when we look down a railroad track, and the two rails appear to converge. The meteors are coming at us along parallel paths- but, way out there, it looks like they're all coming from Perseus or Gemini or Leo. Since the Earth is heading straight into them after midnight, your chance of seeing meteors increases the later you stay awake.

When To Watch A Meteor Shower

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Don't miss this spectacular celestial event!