08/10/2015 -Ephemeris – The Tears of St. Lawrence

Ephemeris for Monday, August 10th.  The Sun rises at 6:39.  It’ll be up for 14 hours and 17 minutes, setting at 8:56.   The Moon, half way from last quarter to new, will rise at 3:55 tomorrow morning.

Today is the Catholic Church’s feast of Saint Lawrence a deacon, who was martyred around 258.  I make reference to this because of the Perseid meteor shower which will reach peak early Thursday morning.  It is also known as the Tears of St Lawrence or St Lawrence’s Fiery Tears because the meteor shower comes near the date of the feast.  We know these meteors as the Perseids because the appear to come from just off the constellation of Perseus the hero in our northern sky.  Small bits of rocky material are the meteoroids that have been shed from Comet Swift-Tuttle on its previous passes near the sun strike the Earth’s atmosphere.  Since the comet’s orbit nearly crosses the Earth’s orbit we pass through this ring of debris every year.

Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

The Perseid meteor shower radiant a about 2 a,m, during the period of the shower. Created using my LookingUp program.

My best Perseid photo. From the 70’s.