Memory.zip

... the 1974 Leonids were described as "startling" by Norman W. McLeod of Punta Gorda, Florida. He had Leonid rates of up to 40 per hour and about half of the 179 Leonids that he witnessed left trains, in some cases up to 3 minutes. Another report, from Virginia Beach cited the train left by a blue fireball that lasted for up to eight minutes!

-Someone on the internet

One of the most amazing things I have ever seen was a meteor shower the summer after sixth grade. The fact it was summer rules out the '74 Leonids, but perhaps it was the August Perseid shower. I was at a sleepover at Mary Tylka's house, and Mary's parents said we should all go outside and watch the meteors. I wasn't expecting  to see anything, and then for an hour there was a meteor ... every few seconds, if I remember it correctly, but my memory may have time-lapsed it to conserve space. The .zip file of my mind.

At any rate, what I remember was an astonishing number of meteors, not constant, but enough to make us realize at some point we'd seen enough to last a lifetime. Or perhaps we were bored. We were in sixth grade. Jaded about the stars. (But ohmygod, have you heard the Cheech and Chong album? No! My mom won't let me. Mary has it? Ohmygod!)

So, every year I look at the scheduled meteor showers and see nothing. I never try to get away from the city, because we were in Florissant at Mary's house under a street lamp when we saw the Big Show.

I had to remind Gary there was a meteor shower tonight, since I didn't want him to be alarmed if he was on his walk, worried that he'd detached his retina again.  Gotta be preemptive with these concerns.

Just like my annual belief every Kentucky Derby that I'll see a horse run like Secretariat again, I keep thinking I'll see another meteor shower. I will be outside at least half an hour again this year, trying to see meteors. I'll let you know tomorrow if I see any.

Comments

[Erin G.]

"Can you see the stars?"
"No, but I can see Uranus!"

(bows with a flourish and exits stage left)

[Becs]

It always rains at night or is cloudy here when the Perseids come. Pffft. Jersey.

[Big Dot]

Leonids? Perseids? What's going on here, some Greek tragedy? I've never come across these terms before. But then I've never seen a meteor shower either.

But I did see Saturn's rings recently [much prettier than the rings around Uranus, Erin, ta dah] through someone's telescope that was controlled by a remote: you just typed in the star, and it found it for you. Felt like cheating to me.

[TheQueen]

Erin G - And now that I've met you, you also add a hand flourish and a toe bob as you say it.
Becs - yep, too cloudy here last night. trying again tonight.
Big Dot - GOOD to know that say Uranus correctly in NZ and didn't bow to pressure to pronounce it in the fin-de-siecle manner. And yes, that is cheating.