Keep Looking Up!

After dark out away from the glare of streetlights and yard lights this Friday night you may notice a strange event.  Every minute you may see one or two bright, long tailed meteors, shooting “stars”, streaming from the northeastern sky.  You linger outside for awhile…and you see more of them!  What’s happening?  Is the sky falling?

In a way, yes.  Sand sized bits of debris from a comet that passed through the part of Earth’s orbit known as August 11-12 are hitting the air you breathe 60 miles above your head.  Friction with the air heats the debris and you see “the sky falling”, the Perseid Meteor Shower every August 11-12.  This is such a wonderful, natural, heavenly display that we’re having a party and you are invited!

All are invited to Northeast Nebraska Astronomy Club’s Perseid Meteor Shower Party.  Weather permitting, this Friday, August 11 at 9pm at the Cory and Tracie Martin residence 3 miles south of Lyons, 1519 Highway 77, bring your lawn chairs and blankets, sit back and watch “the sky falling”.  Meteor rates of 1-2 per minute, 120 per hour, are common.  Two large astronomical telescopes will be available to view the Moon, planets, stars and other objects.  You are invited bring your binoculars and telescope along for the evening.  Traditional Perseid Meteor Shower Party refreshments will be served.  A third quarter Moon rising before midnight will blot out dim meteors, but bright meteors will still be able to be seen.

For more information on this and future NENAC events and presentations, google “nenacstars” or call Pastor Gary Fugman at 349-1953 and “Keep Looking Up!”