The Perseids Meteor Shower...a magical night

I love SPACE. I teach Astronomy at our homeschool co op because I love everything about outer space. I have always been a star gazer. I remember being little and watching meteor showers with my cousin Scott at our family campground. This past February we went to the US Space and Rocket Museum in Huntsville Alabama. It was Ah Mazing! You may as well have sent me to Disney Land. If you have a chance to go, it is a MUST! Make sure you take a couple of days. We went on a guided tour and we were there from open to close and still didn't see everything.

Back to the Perseids

Elijah and I have tried to catch the Perseids every year. It is either cloudy or rainy so when I found out that this year it was going to be perfect weather conditions I told my friend Alecia that WE HAD to camp out. Well that was the original plan. Because her husband ended up having to work we just decided to slumber it and get the kids up at 4 in the morning and go outside. My friend lives in no mans land. They can't get internet out there. It is very peaceful and dark. PERFECT for star gazing.

The night before, we went outside and saw a couple. We knew the peak was going to be at 4 in the morning so we went to bed and I was so excited I woke up before the alarm went off. I got Elijah up pretty easily. Alecia got her 8 year old up and we all went outside to her back porch and sat down for the meteor shower. Now I think our boys did good for two kids on the spectrum who had little sleep. They were cold but they stayed outside long enough to see quite a few meteors. I wish I had planned better and had put out some blankets or something, I think they would have laid there longer. It was so cool. I hadn't seen a light show like that in a long time and I was in awe. The kids got tired of it pretty quickly and got cold so we went back inside, but I hope that they will remember this and maybe we will have excellent viewing weather next year. If you missed the peak don't worry. The Perseids continue until the 23rd of August and I will post the schedule below for the upcoming meteor showers as well as more information on Perseus the Constellation for who the meteor shower is named.

http://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/perseus-constellation/