Tonight through tomorrow morning is supposed to be the Leonid Meteor Showers. I LOVE meteor showers. I happened by chance to catch the Orionid Meteor Showers one evening when I went for a drive. I thought I was really lucky for seeing a couple falling stars in one small amount of time. However, later on, I remembered that it was October and that was the time of those meteor showers. So thank you God, or whoever for making me restless and want to go for a drive in the almost middle of the night!!
So tonight I'm going to try to stay up late and catch some showers. Or maybe I'll go to bed early and get up super early and catch them. Either way, I've got to see me some falling stars. I look forward to this every year. I missed the August ones and I can't remember why.
When I was a kid, I was mesmerized by stars and all things related to space. I wanted to be an astronaut. I threw myself into learning all about that science -and I was rather smart about it too. I still am. I wanted to be an astronaut and fly on the shuttle. Even today whenever I see a shuttle launch or even hear of one I get chills and feel a yearning inside that connects me back to my childhood. I remember when the Challenger shuttle exploded. I was in 8th grade, in Civics class. Mr. Peterson was the teacher and I can't remember who announced it, if it was an announcement over the intercom or if someone came into class and told everyone...I'll have to ask a friend who seems to remember everything under the sun...but anyways, I remember I was sitting there and was shocked. It felt like a part of me died too, like it was one of my relatives or close friends on board that perished in the explosion. Mr. Peterson had a tv in the room and he turned it on and we watched it. Wait a second....was I in 8th grade or 9th grade?? Again, I'll have to ask my own person Rainman because I know he'll remember. But at any rate, that did not necessarily deter me from wanting to be an astronaut, but it did show me the realities of the dangers of space travel. But still, my love of stars did not cease.
I can't think of anything better but a crisp and clear night where you can see all the stars in the sky. When the milky way is visible. When you can see satellites and other aircraft and get fooled into believing they are stars. To me sometimes, it doesn't matter, they are still sparkly stars.
Do you know that the stars you are looking at might not actually be in existence anymore? Do you know that you are seeing the life of that star millions and sometimes billions of years in the past? That's how long it's taken the light to get to us in the form of the star. Also along that line, did you know that the light from the sun has a lag of about 7 minutes? The sun could disappear and we would not really know until 7 minutes later because the sun is so far away that the speed of light limits the light to a 7 minute lag.
Anyway, so tonight/tomorrow morning is the meteor shower. From now until then I'll have to compile my list of wishes in case I see a lot of them. Someday I want to live on a lake and take a boat out to the middle, drop anchor and watch the sky fall all night long. Wait a second...I DO live on a lake right now...but I don't have a boat. :-( gotta get me a boat for next year's nighttime light show!
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