Seeing Stars

Did you get to see the meteor showers a couple weeks ago? My family loves to look at the stars, and this year we remembered about the Perseid Meteor Showers in the middle of August. It was rainy and overcast here the night of August 12 which is when they were supposed to peak, but August 13 was a clear night. About 11:00 p.m. we loaded up the kids and the dog, took along jackets and blankets and drove out in the country away from the city lights. It took us awhile to find a good spot to pull over. We spread our blankets and lay on our backs waiting for our eyes to adjust to the darkness. Pretty soon: "Wow! Did you see it?!" It was hard to know what part of the sky to watch, so usually we just caught the movement of each "shooting start" in the corner of our eyes before it was gone. We watched for 30 or 45 minutes and then the kids thought they heard something rustling in the woods (wolves, perhaps, they thought) and they complained of being cold... and so, since it was getting late we headed home again. Next year maybe we can remember to go camping around that time.

In the meantime, Lyle has discovered Google Sky Map-- a very cool FREE app for his new Android phone. One thing that has always frustrated us about looking at the stars is that we don't do it often enough to be familiar with all the constellations and major stars, so we're never sure of what we're looking at. With Google Sky Map, all we have to do is hold Lyle's phone up in front or above us and, with the wonder that is technology, it knows and labels for us exactly what we see!