Celestial show tonight...

If you are lucky enough to have clear skies after about 11:00 P.M. tonight, you'll get to see some of nature doing what she does best, the Perseid Meteor shower will be coming soon to a sky near you. The shower is debris from the passage of the Swift-Tuttle comet, (which last passed this way in 1992.)so look to the skies tonight and tomorrow morning and you may see up to 60 meteors an hour burning up in our atmosphere. For best viewing look to the northeast after midnight tonight. Also remember that this shower is actually passing by our planet from about July 23rd through August 22nd, so if you don't see it tonight or tomorrow you may get to view at least some of it later in the month. The debris from Swift-Tuttle will be traveling about 37 miles per second and will burn up in the atmosphere leaving beautiful trails of light and if a large enough piece comes down making an exploding type noise. The chances of a piece of the Perseid being large enough to make it to earth (and becoming a meteorite) are slim, but one or two may make it. The shuttle astronauts have a 1 in 300 chance of being hit by earth based space debris, but the Perseid only alters that by less than 15%. (After all compared to the vastness of space astronauts are very very small, imagine putting an ant in a football field and throwing 1000 rocks into the field, the chances of an astronaut getting hit by one of these meteors is less likely than the chance of one of your rocks hitting the ant.) So fellow travelers, enjoy one of natures best shows, it comes around once a year, and there are no curtain calls. Ciao for now.