By Chris Considine
Special to Altadenablog
It’s that time during the summer when the Galactic Greek God Perseus will be sending in his messengers of light via meteorites to the darker skies of Altadena. Of course we aren’t the only ones that will be able to view the annual Perseid Meteor Shower, but it will be highlighted this Friday the 13th! And to make things even better, it will be a moonless sky to make viewing them that much easier for us mere mortals.
Here is a link to get everyone started learning about the comet driven show of space debris that is the reason for the annual event.
http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=10093
A little background on Perseus helps make it all the more interesting.
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/meteors/3304116.html?page=1&c=y
Here is a great quote from the article on the last page: "Saint Lawrence was tortured and killed in Rome on August 10, 258 during the reign of the anti-Christian emperor Valerian... Citing Quetelet, 'a superstition has 'for ages' existed among the Catholics of some parts of England and Germany that the burning tears of St. Lawrence are seen in the sky on the night of the 10th of August; this day being the anniversary of his martyrdom.'"
Special to Altadenablog
It’s that time during the summer when the Galactic Greek God Perseus will be sending in his messengers of light via meteorites to the darker skies of Altadena. Of course we aren’t the only ones that will be able to view the annual Perseid Meteor Shower, but it will be highlighted this Friday the 13th! And to make things even better, it will be a moonless sky to make viewing them that much easier for us mere mortals.
Here is a link to get everyone started learning about the comet driven show of space debris that is the reason for the annual event.
http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=10093
A little background on Perseus helps make it all the more interesting.
Perseus was the son of Zeus and was involved in an evil plot by Polydectes, who was falling in love with Perseus’ mother Danae. Polydectes wanted Perseus out of the way, and sent him to slay the infamous Medusa.
Contrary to the Hollywood version, it was Perseus who did succeed in slaying Medusa using a mirror to avoid her stony glare. He and many other Greek Gods and Goddesses (and the famous ‘horse’ Pegasus) were enshrined into the heavens by naming constellations after them for all to see and navigate by.
Friday night’s show should be better than usual (and certainly a moonless clear night will aid us). It has a very long history as it was first noticed over 2000 years ago. In Europe it was originally known as “the tears of St. Lawrence”, and here is a link to a great article by Mark Littmann about the event.http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/meteors/3304116.html?page=1&c=y
Here is a great quote from the article on the last page: "Saint Lawrence was tortured and killed in Rome on August 10, 258 during the reign of the anti-Christian emperor Valerian... Citing Quetelet, 'a superstition has 'for ages' existed among the Catholics of some parts of England and Germany that the burning tears of St. Lawrence are seen in the sky on the night of the 10th of August; this day being the anniversary of his martyrdom.'"
