Twinkle, Twinkle Shooting Star

It's auspicious for us, perhaps, that tonight's meteor shower came from Gemini, the twins.  We went out around 8:30 pm and it was clear (and chilly) and pretty dark, with no moon.  We spotted Orion immediately and knew this one bright spot was something special; Mama later identified it with her phone app as Jupiter!

And then the meteors fell, about one every three or four minutes, which was just long enough to get cold and a bit discouraged in between, especially as they were falling across a wide swath of the sky.  I don't think we all saw the same one at any given time.  But we did count to 16 in all, with everyone spotting a few.  Sis and I saw the first ones and Bud wasn't sure how to tell a meteor from a plane.  It'll be a line in the sky, I said.  And after he saw his first, squealing with glee, he said, "It's like someone drew a line on a black chalkboard and erased it really quickly."

Do they even have chalkboards at school?

Well, we do have a green one on one whole kitchen wall.

We talked about meteors, as opposed to meteorites, one of which you can touch at AMNH, I believe. Sis remembered that a huge meteorite killed the dinosaurs.  Bud worried that we might get hit by one, but I managed to dispel that fear.

I think we watched for about 45 minutes, migrating into the darkest bit of the backyard where we could spot the biggest patch of sky.  The meteors were pretty falling through the silhouetted branches of the leafless winter trees.  Beautiful.  Sis also kept finding "Hidden Mickeys" in the stars.

It all reminded me of the most spectacular meteor shower Mama and I have ever seen, on the winter beach of the Rockaways in 2001, I think, the Leonids.  In early morning hours, wrapped in coats and carrying hot chocolate, Mama, Goo, and I (joined for a bit, if I recall, by Ma and Gong) counted over 400 meteors falling constantly across the sky into the Atlantic Ocean. Sometimes they came so fast and from some many directions that we couldn't even keep count; eventually we did just stop. It's one of the most amazing natural sights I've ever seen and the most memorable stargazing.

Tonight, I think we started the kids on their own love of stargazing.  I hope they get a night like our Leonids sometime in their lives.  But tonight was a great first start!

(And it sure beats getting up during the peak hours around 3 a.m.!)