I’ve always been an astronomy nut. When I was a wee lad, my folks used to buy me these skinny hardbound science books. One was about the moon, one was about stars and planets. One was even about UFOs. My little pre-adolescent world was was filled with over-the-dinner-table discussions about why Jupiter was too small to start nuclear fission. With food in my mouth, I’d force the conversation on my old man, who was thoroughly uninterested. Ultimately this would be the product of watching the latest episode of "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan earlier in the day.
My first "experience" with meteor showers was back in 1997. I was on my balcony in my corporate apartment in Singapore. I vividly remembered a TV show that was being shown in the afternoons in the late 70’s. About a teenage lad who was watching a meteor shower, and got hit in the head with a small fragment. This fragment made him turn into a lizard every now and then. This made me a bit scared to actually go see the meteor shower. But just a bit.
In the end, the light pollution from the city made it impossible to see anything. So my first experience was a non event. Much like the rest of Singapore.
Fast-forward to 2002. I was in Manila, on a project, living as an expat. I had lots of time, and I spent some of it with the UP Astronomical Society. One night the Leonids showed up again, and I was lying on a rooftop, watching falling stars appear as often as one every minute. It was breathtaking.
This weekend, we’ll be watching the Perseids this time, with the Westchester Amateur Astronomical Society (or something like that), in a park outside of White Plains, NY. Hey, the best place to watch it would be where the Astronomy geeks want to watch it, right?
Carl Sagan is dead, but Jodie Foster made a great movie out of his "Contact" novel. Astronomy geeks will be astronomy geeks whether they be in ‘Pinas or in NY. I’m still watching meteor showers; and the Leonids and Persieds will be there whenever we have the inclination to go see them.
