There have been some amazing photos on TV of the Perseid shower, which shows itself as a spectacular display of falling or shooting stars. The name comes from the constellation of Perseus, because by chance that seems to be the source or these stars, which aren’t actually stars at all. The stars which form Perseus are light years away from Earth, whereas the Perseid shower is much, much closer, only about sixty miles away!
There is a comet called Swift-Tuttle, and as it swings round near Earth it leaves a trail of debris, and as this debris hits the Earth’s atmosphere it creates the impression of stars falling across the sky. Lewis Swift (1820-1913) and Horace Parnell Tuttle (1837-1923) were two American astronomers who both ‘discovered’ the comet within three days of each other in 1862. Their comet orbits the sun over 133 years; it came closest to the sun in 1992, but Earth will have to wait until 2126 for it to come so close again!
Tonight there is supposed to be a great display… unfortunately it is raining so we will miss it tonight; their brilliance and number will fade throughout the next week, and after that we will have to wait until next year!
Whenever I see a falling star I always remember of my mum; one of her favourite songs was ‘Catch a falling star’, sung by Perry Como…
http://https://youtu.be/aXjl0ffNSa4
Lois Elsden 