Please note: For the next couple of days we will be camping with our grandchildren. I expect that I will have cell phone service in the place where we are camping and will be able to publish my journal as usual. However, cell phone service can be spotty and unpredictable in the north Cascades. If you don’t see my journal for a couple of days it is not an indication of a problem. I’ll be back at home Tuesday afternoon and will publish journal entries when I return if I am unable to do so while we are camping.

In 1862, stargazers Lewis Swift and Horace Tuttle, working independently, both discovered a comet orbiting the sun in our solar system. As is the tradition, the comet was named after its discoverers. Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle is a large comet. Its nucleus is 16 miles across. That is more than twice the size of the object that struck the earth leading to the end of the era of dinosaurs. Swift-Tuttle is not posing any threat of collision with our planet, however. Its orbit around he sun takes a long time. Its closest approach to the sun occurred in 1992 and it will take 133 years for it to return to the place in its orbit closest to the sun in 2125.

Comets, however, leave long tails of debris behind them as they travel through the universe. The earth, in its annual revolution around the sun passes through the tail of the comet each year in August. When tiny bits from the comet enter the earth’s atmosphere they burn up brightly and form bright bursts in the night sky that we call “falling” or “shooting” stars. They aren’t stars at all, but the streaks of light appear as bright as distant stars because they are so close to the point of our observation. The annual trip through the tail of Swift-Tuttle is known as the Perseid meteor shower.

During the peak of the Perseid shower viewers can see as many as 100 meteors per hour. these pose no danger to people on earth. They burn up completely and penetrate only to a height of 50 to 60 miles from the surface of the earth. Furthermore, these are very small objects. Most of them are only about the size of a grape seed. A particularly bright example might be as big as a pea.

The ability to see the meteors is dependent upon how much light there is from other sources, so the best place to view the Perseids is away from urban lights. The ability to see the objects can also be diminished by a bright, full moon that lights up the night sky. Tonight and tomorrow are projected to be the height of the shower for this year and the viewing should be good as the moon is a waxing crescent and will be at its brightest right after sunset. Those viewing the night sky will have the best opportunity to see meteors an hour or more after sunset.

We will be camping with our grandchildren tonight and tomorrow. Our campground is in the North Cascades, away from the lights of Vancouver that usually interfere with our watching the night sky. It should be as good as it can get.

However, we probably won’t see any meteors this year. The forecast is for clouds all of the time that we will be camping. Our grandchildren are natives to this part of the world and we have lived here long enough to have adjusted to weather in the Pacific northwest. A few clouds will not dampen our adventures. Even a little rain won’t keep us inside. We have a gas fire pit, approved for use during droughts and fire bans in state parks and campgrounds. We’ll likely be sitting around the campfire toasting marshmallows for s’mores when it is dark. It might be perfect for watching meteors, but there will likely be a layer of clouds between us and the light show taking place a few miles above our heads.

It won’t be the first time I’ve missed seeing the Perseids. I think I’ve missed them more often than I’ve seen them. I did get a fairly good look at them a couple of years ago. I was outside on our deck at this house and I saw not only the meteor shower but the chain of satellites known as star link passed overhead. That train of lights is always interesting to view. Combined with the frequent flashes of light as bits of the tail of Swift-Tuttle burn up entering the atmosphere, I was given a real treat that evening.

The ancients spent a lot of time gazing at the night sky. Even though they didn’t fully understand the movement of planets and stars and comets and other astronomical phenomena, they were observant enough to notice the position of lights in the night sky and trace the movement of objects in relationship to the earth. Even though Swift-Tuttle was “discovered” and named only 162 years ago, the annual meteor shower was observed for millennia before its cause was known. Stories and myths grew out of the observances of phenomena in the night sky.

Shooting stars have been interpreted as signs of new beginnings and of endings. Some cultures associate shooting stars with spiritual awakening or deepening. Some of the ancients believed that shooting stars were the manifestation of spirits and even that their appearance could be interpreted to predict a future event. Other ancient observers viewed meteors as the souls of departed loved ones, traveling to the afterlife. Modern science has given us its own stories and explanations of the bright lights that appear in mid-August each year. We are observing an event that people have observed on earth since time immemorial. Even though our stories are different from theirs, we have a connection with those who have gone before.

Whether or not we see any shooting stars in the next couple of evenings, we will be sitting around the campfire with our grandchildren and we will be telling stories just like our ancestors have done. We may even tell some of the stories of those ancient ones. Their stories connect with ours as we share experiences that will feed stories in years to come.