Lawrence Nature Center Keeps an Eye to the Night Sky
--- By Dave Bosted
The Lawrence Township Nature Center scheduled a campfire and meteor-watch for the evening of October 10th. A forceful weather front swept through the area just before the campfire was to begin. Would a deluge of rain keep everyone away? To light or not to light: that was the question. As the sparks flew upward, the wind pushed the clouds apart, leaving the sky perfect for meteor watching. About forty people moved around the fire to keep warm. Click to read more...
Tom Drexel and his family arrived with an assortment of stringed instruments. Noting that the park is called Drexel Woods, Tom joked, "After tonight's songs, I hope you won't change the name to Anything-but-Drexel Woods." Not to worry. Tom the folksinger was on his game. Several of the songs were true Americana with lively, sing-along choruses. Dave Bosted led a rendition of There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea. Rose Krell made wonderful sharp percussion with a pair of large spoons. After some hearty singing, young Ivy Drexel took up the guitar and dazzled the crowd with sweeter
tunes, including Joni Mitchell's They Paved Paradise and Put in a Parking Lot. The song warns of charging people a dollar and a half just to see the trees. Not in Lawrence! Admission to this park and special event was entirely free.
Although the best meteor displays occur after midnight, when your portion of the earth has revolved to face the meteor stream in space, earlier evening hours can produce impressive meteors. On this occasion one seemed to split the sky above the meadow at 10:55pm. There was no moon to interfere as Orion climbed the sky, and the frequency of meteors increased.
Because the display appears to radiate from the constellation Orion, this annual show is called the Orionid meteor shower. These "shooting stars" are particles left behind by Halley's comet. Some may be as small as a grain of sand but give a brilliant light as their collision with Earth's atmosphere turns them into almost pure energy. For this year's Orionid meteor-watch, some sky watchers returned long after the campfire was doused. By then Orion was high in the sky and numerous bright meteors flashed through the night during the period from 3:15 to 4:40am.
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