Monday, August 11, 2008

The Perseids

Well, I'm back from a week at the beach and a week at Disney World and I am tired! So I'll give a short one today and then give some mythology that I found while on vacation (yes, I am so the nerd that spent part of my vacation looking for mythology).

For the next few nights, there is a meteor shower going on. It should have about 90 shooting stars an hour at its peak on August 12th about 2:00 in the morning. The closer to dawn, the brighter these will be. Now, you don't have to be awake at 2:00 in the morning to get a chance to see shooting stars, that is just when they peak. You can go out after dark and expect to see some. You also don't have to wait until August 12th. For the next several days you'll have good viewing.

How does this relate to mythology? Well, they are called the Perseids because they radiate from the constellation Perseus, our hero from Clash of the Titans (yes, yes, I know - cheesy movie that gets pretty much everything wrong). You don't need to find Perseus to see these, either. Just look up.

Happy hunting - see you soon.

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