Night School--The Draconid Meteor Shower
On Monday evening we drove out to the west desert near Horseshoe Springs for a chance to observe the annual Draconid meteor shower--named after the constellation Draco the dragon (the radiant point). Our friend, Carlynn, and her two boys (Matthew and Luke) joined us for the festivities. The kids were so excited because we'd been talking about it for weeks. The plan was to spread out a giant tarp, get into our sleeping bags, eat lots of treats, and search the night sky for meteors. Historically, the Draconid meteor shower is a sleeper, but there have been several years when the dragon woke up and spewed forth THOUSANDS of meteors in an hour. During our drive to the desert, we noted the thick, high cloud cover. Hallee said three prayers during that drive that we'd be able to see the sky that night and by the time we had the tents set up and were situated on the giant blue tarp we had a perfect window into the heavens right above us (although the rest o...