For all those who didn't know, last week was the peak for the Perseid meteor shower. On the night of August 12th into the morning of August 13th, one could see shooting stars streak across the sky giving off an array of colors. For those who were able to get out of the light in order to see this marvelous example of how beautiful the universe is, you should not have been disappointed. During my experience with the meteor shower this year, I was able to get away from all light, grab a blanket and lie in a field and stare up at the sky. Before I continue, I should give the science behind the meteor shower. The Perseid is one of the most popular meteor showers that comes around and, in fact, can be seen by the naked eye, no telescope needed. The stars are named after the constellation Perseus due to the fact that they are in the same direction as the constellation.
Now even though the peak of the shower was August 12th, that does not mean there is still not a chance to see some. The period one could go out and see a few Perseid meteors this year is July 17th to August 24th, but the peak is the night that one would see the most shooting stars. There may still be time to see some, but they will probably not be as bright or as big as the ones during the peak night. I was able to see a few days after the peak night, and I still thought they were amazing.
My experience viewing the meteor shower, I would say, was very humbling because I seemed very insignificant when watching these objects thousands of miles away. I could not help but feel like a speck in this universe that is growing by the second. We seem to forget that we are almost nothing compared to other planets and galaxies in our universe, let alone stars.
Once I got out there, I stared up into the darkness for about 20 minutes in order for my eyes to get adjusted to the dark. This is an important thing for watching shooting stars because your eyes will not be able to see anything as soon as you get out there. You must give yourself time before you start watching to get your eyes adjusted. Then, after those initial 20 minutes, the show began. Left and right I saw shooting stars blaze across the sky. I saw big ones, small ones, ones with long tails, and ones that were colorful. In order to do this, I had to keep scanning the sky with my eyes. When watching a meteor shower, you should not focus your eyes on only one place because the sky is huge so find a place where you can see the greatest amount of sky possible. I looked left and right, and I saw around 50 meteors in the hour I was out there, and it was nothing short of amazing. The final shooting star I saw was one that stayed in view for a few seconds with multiple colors flashing and a long, magnificent tail.
I can say for a fact that watching the Perseid meteor shower may have been one of my favorite nights during the summer of 2015. If you are disappointed that you missed the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, have no fear because there are many meteor showers that will be coming around in the future. Just do your research and you will find a whole list of meteor showers for the rest of 2015, and after the New Year you should be able to find a list for 2016 too. Maybe even next year the Perseids will make a return for you stargazers to view and be in awe at their beauty. I hope this retelling gets you all excited to watch some meteor showers, and if so, good luck and happy meteor watching!
