pretty comet debris

Sometime around August 10th every year, we're treated to a show of thousand-year-old debris burning up in our atmosphere.  Yes, those lovely Perseids.  We pass through the cloud of smallish rocks from the Swift-Tuttle comet the same time each year and sometimes the skies are clear enough to actually see some falling stars.

I had actually forgotten about the meteor shower until I happened to be looking at an extremely clear sky the night before with my Google Sky Map app (it's fun from time to time) and right there just down from Cassiopeia and over from Perseus was a little starburst that said "Perseids" 

Um....not quite.

Saturday night, once the kid was asleep, I had our dogs out for their nightly constitutional and zoom went one meteor.   Considering I was right next to a street light and could still see the thing, I had a good feeling about the success of the night's stargazing. 

As soon as I got back home, I turned off all of our lights and pulled one of our highly uncomfortable dining room chairs onto our balcony which had a perfect view of Cassiopeia. (Of all of the constellations in the sky there are only four that I can recognize...The Big and Little Dippers, Orion, and Cassiopeia.)  I slumped down in the chair as far as I could so that I could rest my head on the back of the hard wooden chair and put my feet up on the railing of the balcony.  This was not comfortable, but it was either this awkward position or lay down on the floor of the balcony easily looking straight up into the sky while running the risk of numerous huge spiders crawling all over me.  No thank you.  I'll take the kinked-up neck.

There were oh so many stars that were visible despite the streetlights and the glow coming from town.  And there were even more stars that were very faint that I knew I could see if I was just a little further out of town.  I strained my eyes to see them even though I knew that the best way to make them visible was to relax my vision and look at the sky the way that we'd have to look at those posters they used to sell in malls with the hidden 3D pictures in them.


It's not a sailboat.

Zoom, zoom!  Two meteors in a row.  Never mind the stars.  This was already better than other years I'd tried staying up to see she sky show.  And it was only 11pm!   This is awesome!

A few more meteors flew past and my the base of my skull was starting to hurt from the chair it was resting on.  I toyed again with the idea of stretching out on the balcony floor, but I knew I was starting to get pretty tired and there was a good chance of me dozing off and do you know how many spiders you swallow in one night in your own bed?  Can you imagine the number of them on the balcony?  I decided to get a small pillow to use between my head and the chair instead. 

I was up to 8 meteors and it was a little past midnight.  I was beginning to doze off in the accordion-like position that I was folded into, but I resolved to make it to 10 meteors.  I had never seen so many before in one night and I wanted to make it a nice even number. 

And nothing happened.  And the awesomeness was beginning to fade.

A few whispy clouds skimmed the edge of my viewing area and I just knew that they must be obscuring the other meteors that I should be seeing so I could get to bed.  Damned clouds.  Ow!  Damned neck.  Damned spiders living outside that aren't letting me comfortable...

One more meteor flew over.

It's about damned time!  Come on you pieces of rock, I just need one more and then I can get into bed. 

And nothing

After ten minutes, I decided to give up.  Terribly disappointed in the Perseids, I dragged myself off of the chair and into the apartment, leaving the chair out there because I didn't want to bother with it.  Screw the damned chair and the meteors.  I'm going to bed.

Of course, I'm sure a tenth meteor flew overhead as soon as I stepped foot inside.  I just know it. 

After a good night's sleep (even with a bruise at the base of my skull), I can once again appreciate the wonder that is falling debris amongst the vastness of space.  Someday I only wish I can see it from a much more comfortable position with even more stars to gaze at.


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