Yesterday I was reading THIS ARTICLE about an upcoming heavenly event, a supposedly fantastic meteor display in the night skies on Dec. 13/14. The scientists are saying that this will be the greatest light show in years.
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Pardon me if I sleep through this one. Standing outside for a couple of hours on a winter night is too punishing for the momentary thrill of watching a bright star-like object move along for 5 seconds. Years ago, I did that once during the annual August meteor shower, just to be able to say that I saw it. Interesting, kind of. But it’s not really action-packed.
When I was about 10 yrs. old and in that stage of life where you devote time to learning new things that interest you, I had a brief connection with astronomy. One of the neighborhood boys, who was a year or two younger than me, was a dedicated young astronomer and knew all the constellations and what was going on up there. His name was Joel, as I recall.
I enjoyed those periodic times where we’d lay on our backs on the ground looking at the star patterns. I wasn’t very good at discerning the different colors of the stars, they all looked silver to me. But it was fun for a kid. I never really did see a goat up there. However I can still point out the Big Dipper and Orion’s belt and knife.
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It was about that same time that a well-known scientist from Philadelphia’s Franklin Insititute, Dr. Roy K. Marshall, had a weekly 15-minute television program on science and nature. Often he would do his live show from their Fels Planetarium and explain the stories of the constellations and the scientists’ viewpoint of the vast “out there.” He even sold a 12-page book that had the map of the sky for each month. You could take it outside and hold it up as you looked heavenward and compare his constellation chart with the stars. I believe that book is still being sold to this day.
As is usual for childhood pals, I have no idea whatever became of Joel. But if I’m not mistaken, Roy K. Marshall’s television career came to an abrupt halt when he was caught doing unscientific things with little boys.
We’d better get the equipment checked out. I’ll go start the coffee.
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