Online science curriculum is great. But outdoors science curriculum is even better.
Rush out tonight and see the annual August shooting star show before this year's event is over. This annual meteor shower is called the Perseids because they seem to come from the constellation Perseus.
The Perseids are fragments left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle in the vicinity of Earth's orbit...actually the vicinity of the part of this orbit that the Earth passes through every August.
You could say that the Earth runs into the shower. Much like when you or I run into the shower. You don't get wet just standing in the bathroom. You have to move to a certain place where there are drops of water in the air. The orbiting Earth runs into the Perseids in a roughly similar way.
I remember this science song lyric from my childhood....
"A shooting star is not a star, why does it shine so bright?
The friction as it falls through air, causes heat and light."
Last night sitting outside talking with my brother, I saw a terrific shooting star with a long lasting trail. And I wasn't even looking!
Pretty DAF FY
More info in this Yahoo article.
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