Awakening early this morning, I remembered that we are in the peak days of the annual Perseid Meteor Shower and went outside to scan the sky. There I was greeted by the full August moon (known as the Sturgeon Moon), gleaming from the southwest and casting a haze of light through the pre-dawn darkness.
Of course, this haze had a negative impact on the annual show though I did see several impressive meteors streak across the sky. Produced by remnant debris left behind by the Swift-Tuttle comet, which orbits the sun every 130 years, the Perseids peak from August 11 to 13 as the Earth's orbit crosses that of the comet.
The beauty of the full moon more than compensated for its effect on the meteor shower but we humans tend to be goal oriented and a bit of disappointment must be acknowledged. Somehow, we manage to recover.
