# Perseid Meteor Shower



## dkay (Aug 10, 2018)

August is a magical time especially for a few days each year. This year (for those of us living in the states) this coming weekend is the best viewing time to watch the Perseid Meteor Shower. I'm not sure about the rest of the northern hemisphere but I did read where there are some good viewing days in England and in some parts of India. So sorry those in the southern hemisphere will not be able to see it.

When I was a child there was no air conditioning. Southeast Colorado was hot. The air was still. My mom had box fans in the windows but they did little to cool the house. My sister and I would often sleep out in the backyard. One year in August my dad came out with his blanket and pillow. The three of us sprawled out on our blankets and looked upward the way ancestors before us surely did.  We looked up to the sky where dozens and dozens of meteors fell. Dad showed us the big dipper and the little dipper and the belt of Orion. He showed us where the north star was and how to tell which way was East or West using the stars or the rising of the sun. There was a star that seemed to travel across the sky. Dad said it was Sputnik, a Russian satellite. I don't know for sure that it was, but it was an interesting idea. 

That night we counted 177 meteors. I haven't seen that many meteors in one night since then. Perhaps the Swift-Tuttle comet released all of the best meteors that year. A few years later a friend spent the night during the meteor shower. We watched the sky amazed at its beauty. She was a Hispanic Catholic girl who told me that her grandmother told her that the meteors were the flaming tears of St. Lawrence. I didn't know who that was. A few years ago I looked him up.

Legend says that he was killed in 258 AD. He was actually grilled over hot coals by pagans. It was said that Lawrence told the pagans to turn him over because the side above the coals was done. Later on he was declared the patron saint of cooks. 

Whatever the stories that surround this event, it is a beautiful sight to see. I am hoping for clear skies.


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