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If you think that this is all a bit of a shower... read on!
Did You See It? Last night three friends met on West Kennet Long Barrow, near Avebury, Wiltshire. One lay back, tilting her head by resting on the scrunched ball of her long hair to maximize viewing and comfort. One set up her camera in the hopes of getting lucky again. And the third sat with his dog on his lap to keep warm. The warm summer evening air was cut by a cool westerly breeze and scented by the heavy smell of cut corn from the surrounding fields.
As they watched the eastern sky an orange-red oblong appeared on the horizon. It rose into the night sky, its movement clearly visible to the naked eye. The moon became more yellow as it got higher, until it disappeared behind and back lit a patch of dark grey cloud.
With the moon low and the last of the twilight gone the sky was perfect for stars and meteors.
Suddenly a small bright light darted across the sky – literally if you blinked you missed it. Minutes later there was a more normal looking shooting star, followed by a couple more to the north. Due to the merry chatter between the friends, not all saw these meteors.
Then they all saw another bright light, slightly orange this time, flash across the sky, with it was a trail of gold ‘dust’. The friends fell silent, in awe.
Below is a photo from the 2007 Persied event taken at approx 11pm on the 11th of August at West kennet Long Barrow.
They continued to keep their eyes on the stars and were blessed with a few more darts and flashes across the night sky before the moon rose too high and shone too brightly.
Reluctantly the friends left the place of the ancestors, knowing they had seen something special and feeling touched by the magnificence of the mystery.
Account by Linda Sankey, from the top of West Kennet Long Barrow,11-08-2009
A Close Encounter of almost the WRONG kind
For 2000 years, the Perseid meteor shower has been captivating terrestrial observers with its dynamic displays and brilliance world wide, with the earliest records of its spectacle coming from the Far East.
Why they are called 'the Perseids' is because they appear to come from the constellation of Perseus. What they actually are is a stream of debris from a comet that takes 130 years to orbit the sun. This comet has been christened 'Swift-Tuttle' after the astronomers who independently discovered it in 1862 (namely Lewis Swift and Horace Parnell Tuttle). It has since reappeared in 1992, being spotted by an enterprising Japanese astronomer.
The Perseid shower is visible from late July to around the end of August each year and this activity tends to peak sometime around August 8-13.
The stream of debris and dust particles that crosses the Earth's orbit to give rise to this spectacle is called the Perseid Cloud, as the comet's path takes it quite close to our dear blue planet, this veritable oasis in outer space, overlapping the orbit. It's then that particles are captured by and fall to the Earth, most burning up in the atmosphere giving rise to the showers of shooting stars/meteors (should they survive the the atmosphere and 'land', they become 'meteorites') that we have become accustomed to - the Perseid Meteor Shower.
The Perseid Cloud extends along the orbit of the Comet and some of the debris is believed to be 1000 years old or more. Each time the comet passes through our neck of the woods it leaves more matter behind. This newer debris is thought to be more active than its older counterparts, giving rise to a light-show of some considerable proportions.
There are various superstitions and stories surrounding this annual event (and I don't mean meteors causing cosmic blindness, enabling mutant plants to try and wipe us out and take over the world!) but one such story has some Catholics referring to the Perseids as the "tears of St. Lawrence", since August 10 (slap bang in the middle of the Perseid time) is the date of that saint's martyrdom.
So if you missed it this time around or you think it's all a bit of a shower, think again, they will be back this time next year in all their meteoric glory- and there is only one thing anyone can say to that, and that is... "WATCH THIS SPACE!"
One final note: due to the orbit of the Swift-Tuttle Comet, the Perseid Meteor shower is most visible in the northern hemisphere
