So there's this thing in the sky.

A little while back during the Perseid meteor shower, excited astronomer and APOD translator Laurent Laveder wanted to take some pictures of the phenomena from the beach in Tregguenec, in northwestern France. While he did not catchany brilliantly bright meteor,he did catch this. To the casual observer, it's a meteor. But Laveder correctly identified it as an Iridium flare from an orbiting satellite. The satellite appears extra bright due to the long exposure of his camera right after this appeared.

Spitzer's Orion

This is an infrared image of the constellation Orion. Orion, a stellar nursury some 1,500 light years away, is visible to the unaided eye under moderate view conditions. This image of Orion, taken from The Spitzer space telescope ,reveals cloud discs orbiting certain stars, raising the possibility that entire solar systems may be forming in Orion. Nebulae like Orion are like cities inhabited by stars. Astronomers predict that as many as 90% of stars in out galaxy are found in these swarming stellar cities.

DETHKLOKDETHKLOKDETHKLOK

Sometime after the rain and thunder stopped (for the most part) in my area, I decided to check out the stars. I went out back in my lanai around 10 o'clock (the front of my house is too well lit to see anything.)and started poking around. With my star map in hand, I set out to locate the weekly constellations, Sagittarius, Scorpio, and Corona Borealis. At first, I was overwhelmed, as I didn't know where to look. The storm had subsided in the area, and I think it was moving north west. Besides tiny, faint clouds and the occasional flash of lightning form the horizon, I think the sky was mostly clear. I spent about 20 minutes watching random parts of the sky, beginning northwards, then looking east and west. To me, they looked like random clusters and bunches of stars, making no real shape. I vainly tried to connect the dots into some vaguely familiar shape. Then I turned southwards, and I saw I comparativly dense packet of stars. My first impression of the pattern was that it resembled some dragon you see in the table mats of Chinese food restaurants. I looked at my star map, and concluded it wasnt Draco. Switching from looking to a piece of paper to the night sky was frustrating, since I either had no light, or, if i turned the lights on, too much. I decided to do my best and draw what I saw. I compared my drawings to the map, and saw immediatly that I was looking at Scorpius and Sagittarius. I also think I got the top of Corona Australis. I didn't realize that they would be so close together. I would have liked to have seen more, but my view was obstructed by my neighbor's plants and trees. I spent about a half hour out there. Call me stupid, but I couldn't find the moon. Also of interesting note, as I was drawing the stars, I saw a metoer, faint with a good sized tail, cut through Scorpius' tail and through Sagittarius's kettle.Over the weekend, or on my next observation, I definetly plan on going somewhere more open.

"Hey! I see one over there! It's moving really slowly and blinking!"

"Is it over there by those four stars?"
"Which four?"

Observations Part 1
it is currently early Sunday morning, 1:07 AM, at Jonathan Lazin's House. Paul, Lazin, and I first left to the docks by the house at around 11:20, but we didn't inititially know where in the sky to look. We were in the middle of Sarasota Bay, virtually surrounded by lights and buildings. We think it's about 85 degrees outside.The skies were mostly clear, with small packets of cloud scattered across the night sky. The moon shone prominently, and we predicted that this would be a problem with trying to spot the meteors. We began to think we saw flashes of light, but then Lazin and I saw a real meteor fly over our heads. Here I'll put a rough summary of whata we saw, where, when, and who saw it:
11:32PM- Me and Lazin see one overhead, and we recall it heading approximatley south.
11:36PM- Paul sees another one, but doesn't recall the direction.
At this point, we decide to go back to Lazin's house and observe the meteors from his roof. As soon as we get on top, Paul identifies the Persius constellation.
11:45PM- I see a brilliant flash of light heading south. I think it was a "fireball" Mr. P described to us Paul and Lazin were messing on Lazin's laptop and missed it.
At this point, we begin to write down the times, instead of trying to remember them.
12:08AM- Paul and I see one. Don't remember the direction.
12:21AM-Lazin sees one. Does not remember direction.
12:20AM-Lazin and Paul observe "UFOs," stars that move up, down, and sideways. I later see one of the alleged "drunk drivers of the sky," but we conclude that it may have been an illusion caused by the brightness of the moon.
12:23AM- The three of us see a meteor traveling northwest. We begin record the direction of the shooting stars at this point. We also note that this is the first shooting star we see that does not seem to originate from the general area of the Persius.
12:25AM- I spot one moving West.
12:27AM- Paul spots one moving west.
12:31AM- Lazin spots one moving southwest.
12:38AM- I spot one moving northeast. This one also does not originate from Persius.
12:40AM- Pual and I spot one moving northeast.
12:42AM- Lazin and Paul spot one moving northeast.
12:43AM- The three of us spot one moving south.
12:50AM- Paul spots one moving south.
Very soon after this, we realize the Percival told us the the meteor shower would start in earnest at 1:30. We decide we want a break from the heat and the bugs. We head inside, and will go back out in 20 minutes.

Meteor Shower Tonight

Hello. My name is Jizz Gomez. I am 17, and I am in Mr. Percival's 0 period class. I hail from my native country of Puerto Rico. I like rice. Every morning, I go out and milk cows. I also feed chickens. I want to pursue a career in lawn care or construction. I will be observing the Perseis meteor shower tonight.