Keep An Eye Out For Meteor Rain

I read in the evening news yesterday that a spectacular meteor shower will be seen in UK during the weekend. The news said, "The Perseids, which streak through the sky every summer will appear brighter than usual because of a new moon.......The shower will peak at around 3am. Although the meteors appear to radiate from a point in the constellation Perseus in the north-eastern sky, they can be seen from anywhere in the UK, depending on the weather..... "

I got home after a few drinks and it was about 2am. The sky was all very clear and the meteor shower was distinctively seen. This was my first time seeing all this, and it was not like those fireworks-like that we used to see in the movies. They moved quite quickly in a sudden flash of lights and occasionally the trail carried on glowing for a minute or two.

"The Perseids are made up of dusty debris shed by Comet Swift-Tuttle, discovered in 1862. Each year the Earth's orbit causes it to plough through the meteors, which burn up as they shoot through the upper atmosphere. Most of the meteors are no bigger than a grain of sand, but as they shoot through the Earth's atmosphere at around 135,000mph they burn up in a bright light and many leave a glowing streak in their wake. Occasionally, they ignite into a bright fireball as larger meteors shoot through.

The Perseids, which are named after the constellation from which they appear to originate, Perseus, used to be known as the "tears of St Lawrence" after a 3rd-century archdeacon of Rome. When he was executed by the Romans, meteors streaked through the night sky and reappeared every year around St Lawrence's feast day on August 10.

Chinese records from 36AD contain the earliest reports of the Perseids. " (MURDO MACLEOD)

I had a very pleasant evening, and i did not expect to see the meteor shower so easily by just standing at the front yard of my house on a quiet night.

Listening to :

On A Night Like This by Kylie Minogue