A feast for the eyes will take place on Sunday night, August 12 at Westport's Rolnick Observatory. Viewers are invited to witness the Perseid meteor shower from 9:00 - 11:00 p.m.
As comets orbit the Sun, they shed an icy, dusty debris stream along its orbit. If the Earth moves through this stream, spectators are treated to a meteor shower. The comet Swift-Tuttle will be spraying its dust into the Earth's atmosphere at 132,000 miles per hour. Since there will be a new moon with extremely dark skies, visibility will be enhanced. Meteor showers derive their names from the constellation from which they appear to fall; thus, the Perseid meteor shower comes from the constellation Perseus.
To get into the mood for this event, you may want to listen to some "celestial" music. Selections from the Library's collection include Gustav Holst's The Planets, Aaron Jay Kernis' "Musica Celestis" from The Lark Quartet plays Aaron Jay Kernis, Meredith Monk's "Earth Seen From Above" and "Other Worlds Revealed" from Voices 1900/2000, and Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra.