We lay back lazily
on our chaise lounges and gazed at the northeastern sky, enjoying one of the
many perks of the RV life: When the Perseid meteor showers are at their peak
each summer, we can drive forty miles to a campground and view the meteors in
comfort, little hindered by tall trees or air pollution. In 2016 astronomers had
forecast an especially spectacular meteor shower.
The campground
is at Silver Lake, a reservoir at 7300’ in the Sierra Nevadas. We go
there often for quick getaways, where we can walk, kayak, or rent a canoe. (I
do fewer of these activities now, but still enjoy easy walks and campground
life.) At one spot along the lake where the view to the northeast is completely
unobstructed, there is plenty of room to set up a camera on a tripod and
arrange our chaises.
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| The Silver Lake sharks are always friendly. |
Around
midnight, we began to see the occasional meteor streak across the sky. One huge
fireball was more spectacular and rewarding than anything we had expected. We continued
watching until about 2:00 A.M, when we grew tired and returned to
our RV. More persistent or younger stargazers no doubt saw many more--the
display was greatest in the hours just before dawn, when we were fast asleep.
The annual
meteor showers appear from Earth to emanate from the Perseus constellation, named
for the mythical Greek hero Perseus. As his main claim to fame, Perseus severed
the head of Medusa, an especially fearsome Gorgon whose hair had been turned to
snakes by the goddess Athena. Perseus rescued and married the princess
Andromeda, daughter of Cassiopeia and Cepheus, who had left their daughter to die in order to
mollify a sea monster. (I'm not making this up!) The ancient Greeks named some neighboring constellations
in the northeast sky Perseus, Andromeda, Cassiopeia, and Cepheus. It’s easy to
imagine someone pointing out the figures and telling a child the gruesome story
they represent.
The Perseid meteor
showers are actually displays of comet dust entering Earth’s atmosphere. From
late July to the middle of every August, and peaking around August 11, Earth is in just the right position to
be showered with the remnants of the Comet Swift–Tuttle. The comet gives off a cloud of debris, made of particles (meteors) that burn up as they streak
through the atmosphere and provide natural fireworks.
Though the
Perseus myth and the scientific aspects of the meteor showers are absorbing, to
me the best part of watching the showers is their awe-inspiring beauty. Walt Whitman
said it far better than I can long ago, in his “When I Heard the Learn’d
Astronomer”:
When I heard
the learn’d astronomer,
When the
proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was
shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide,
and measure them,
When I sitting
heard the astronomer where he lectured with
much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon
unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and
gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical
moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in
perfect silence at the stars.
Text copyright 2016 by Carol Stone, photo copyright 2016 by Thane Puissegur
