To read the tribute to SFC Marcus Muralles, please click here
Saturday, August 13, 2005
Shooting Stars
My alarm clock went off at 2am this morning. I woke up the boys, and we headed outside.
Fortunately, when we got out there, the sky was mostly clear. I laid down on the driveway and invited the boys to join me. They didn't believe me, at first, but T2 ended up joining me after a few minutes (and several of my "There's one!" that he missed because he wasn't looking straight up at just the right moment).
We were in the front yard for about 10 minutes, and I think I saw about one meteor a minute, but some were so faint that I almost had to wonder if I really saw them. (T1 said that he thinks he saw some faint ones, as well.) After about 10 minutes, we all saw the same really bright one (had to be a little bit bigger than a grain of sand to start out with), and we decided to call it a night because of the clouds moving in.
It was very cool, no denying that. I just wish that we were in the middle of nowhere so we could have seen more. Or, barring that, I wish my neighbors would bother to turn off their porch lights once in a while. There was too much "light pollution" for us to get a good look at the sky.
That won't keep me from hauling the boys out of bed next year to see some more shooting stars. Only bad weather could do that.
Fortunately, when we got out there, the sky was mostly clear. I laid down on the driveway and invited the boys to join me. They didn't believe me, at first, but T2 ended up joining me after a few minutes (and several of my "There's one!" that he missed because he wasn't looking straight up at just the right moment).
We were in the front yard for about 10 minutes, and I think I saw about one meteor a minute, but some were so faint that I almost had to wonder if I really saw them. (T1 said that he thinks he saw some faint ones, as well.) After about 10 minutes, we all saw the same really bright one (had to be a little bit bigger than a grain of sand to start out with), and we decided to call it a night because of the clouds moving in.
It was very cool, no denying that. I just wish that we were in the middle of nowhere so we could have seen more. Or, barring that, I wish my neighbors would bother to turn off their porch lights once in a while. There was too much "light pollution" for us to get a good look at the sky.
That won't keep me from hauling the boys out of bed next year to see some more shooting stars. Only bad weather could do that.
