By Bill Zeeble, KERA 90.1 Reporter
Dallas, TX – Bill Zeeble, KERA 90.1 reporter: Every August, hundreds of skywatching clubs like the Peninsula Astronomy Society here on Yosemite's Glacier Point routinely gather to watch the Perseid meteor showers. They're named after the constellation Persius, but the shooting stars are actually space debris from the tail of Swift-Tuttle comet.
Paul Mortfield, Astronomer, Stanford University SOLAR Center: This small, fine debris is what every year, the Earth, in its orbit around the sun, runs into.
Zeeble: Paul Mortfield is a Solar Astronomer from Stanford University.
Mortfield: And when it runs into it, these particles hit our atmosphere and burn up. And that's what we see as meteors.
Skywatcher at Yosemite's Glacier Point: OOOHHH! Wow! Oh, I missed it!
Zeeble: There will be more Perseid meteors, however, and not just visible from world-class viewing peaks like Glacier Point, 7200 feet from sea level and far from big city lights. Members of the Texas Astronomical Society and other amateur and professional astronomers will set up telescopes at local community colleges and McKinney's Heard Museum this Friday. Society member Joe Vines is an instructor at Richland Community College.
Joe Vines, instructor, Richland Community College: You don't need a telescope. You don't need binoculars. Just a lawn chair, a blanket, bug spray and face the northeast. Relax and just watch, and you'll see - about once a minute, if it's good - you'll see little streaks across the sky. The bright moonlight may wash out the fainter meteors.
Zeeble: The best viewing time, Vines says, is after midnight. Think of the Earth as a car, he explains, going down the highway. Early in the evening, stargazing is like looking out the back window.
Vines: After midnight, the Earth as turned on its axis, and we've started looking forward in the same direction the Earth is traveling in its orbit around the sun. And just as you are driving down the highway and more bugs hit the windshield than hit the back glass, as we plow into these particles and they burn up, we'll see more of them after midnight.
Zeeble: But that's not all there is to see, say amateur astronomers. Mars is as close as it will be to Earth in anyone's lifetime. And the phenomenon is bringing out the telescopes. Those without can usually borrow a peak at the universe through someone else's equipment. Steve Overholz, atop Glacier Point, shared this view from his 22-inch mirror lens telescope, accessible with a step ladder.
Steve Overholz, amateur astronomer at Glacier Point: This is called the double cluster of Persius. You're looking halfway out to the visible limits of our galaxy right there. Very far away. Some are orange-tinted, because they're actually red giant stars, super giant stars.
Zeeble: For first-time stargazers, there's only one rule astronomers wish everyone would follow to preserve night viewing.
Unidentified speaker: Flashlights down, please; flashlights down please to the ground; flashlights pointed to the ground please!
Zeeble: Amateur astronomers will set up local sky parties this Friday at Brookhaven, Richland, Cedar Valley, Eastfield and Mountain View Community Colleges in Dallas county. On August 30th, they'll add Fair Park to the list. For KERA 90.1, I'm Bill Zeeble.