Monday, August 11, 2008

It's A Meteor Shower Mulder...

"...Then there are those who care not about extraterrestrials, searching for meaning in other human beings. Rare or lucky are those who find it. For although we may not be alone in the universe, in our own separate ways on this planet, we are all... alone."

-Jose Chung (Charles Nelson Reilly) The X-Files, Jose Chung's From Outer Space

I got an email this past week from, SpaceWeather.com, reminding me that tonight, into tomorrow morning, (August 12th) will be the peak of the annual Perseid Meteor shower. I am going to take a nice, long nap this afternoon, to prepare me for the all night event. I look forward to this every August, when little bits and pieces of the comet Swift-Tuttle, streak across the sky, in a striking display. It is estimated that watchers might see as many as 50 - 100 per hour, and according to Wikipedia, the meteor shower has been observed by sky watchers for around the last 2,000 years. In fact, in medieval Europe it was known as "The Tears Of St Lawrence." According to star lore, the Perseid Meteor Shower commemorates the time when Zeus, the king of the gods, visited the mortal Danae, in the form of a Shower of Gold. As a result of their union Zeus and Danae became the parents of Perseus.

I love the sky, and the stars, and with all the stress lately, it will be relaxing to set up the tripod and camera, grab a bowl of popcorn, and Elvis, and lay back in the grass to do a little daydreaming at night. The weather has turned warm today, with little fog or overcast, and the forecast is for a warm day tomorrow, which makes it perfect conditions for viewing the meteor shower! I don't know if I will get many photos or not, that would be a bonus, I am just looking forward to cuddling up with Elvis and letting my mind wander across the sky. If only I could call Mulder and ask him to join me! LOL. "Hello Fox, it's Carly here, wanna come over and watch the meteor shower with me?"

How about you? Will I be all alone in the night, or will you be out there with me? If so, do you plan to photograph the event, or will you just sit back and enjoy the show? Will you watch it from your own yard, or will you visit an observatory? If you could watch the meteor shower with a fictional character, who would it be? Tell me everything!

Perseid Meteor Shower

2008 Perseid Meteor Shower (NASA)

-OndineMonet


2 comments:

IndigoSunMoon said...

Thanks for letting me know about the meteor shower! I hope I can stay awake for a while at least to catch some of it.
I think I would like to ask Mulder to watch the shower with me here in Alabama. You never know...he could be up in Ider, Alabama where we have reports of alien spaceships quite often! LOL
Connie

Teresa said...

Sounds like it will be fun, wish I could be awake to watch it but I have to be in bed by 9 p.m. LOL ~ in this area of Texas we have reports of UFO's often but even more often are reports of Big Foot LOL. I'd like to catch a glimpse of Big Foot but from a good distance away with binaculars. Have a good cuddle with Elvis. Teresa

http://journals.aol.com/stetsonsfyre/remembering-to-exhale/