Shooting Stars

A picture from google earth of the Crab Nebula. This is what a star looks like after super-nova.

The first time I ever saw a shooting star I was 20 years old. I was in the passenger seat of a car, this guy I had been hanging out with was driving me back home. We were driving down my exit when I saw a quick flash of light. I was giddy. The guy scoffed at me and didn't believe I'd never seen one before. That guy was a jerk.

I haven't seen a shooting star since. Honestly, I don't get much chance to gaze up at the night sky these days. Jared and I went on a date a few years ago to the beach to try and look through a telescope, but it was very cold and I am very impatient and we were both very easily distracted.

I saw this article the other day and I am making it a goal to stay up and watch for this comet. Lucky for me, its supposed to be visible for up to 3 months!The comet, C/2012 S1, is "expected to be the brighest visitor to our solar system in the past century — a comet that'll be considerably brighter than Hale-Bopp (1997) and Halley's Comet (1986)."

Of course, there's a whole year between then and now, (it will arrive Dec 13) so maybe I'll schedule some lightweight stargazing in the meantime.

Did you ever go through an astronomy phase? I had a huge space camp phase, but I think it was more wanting a jump suit, the chance to ride in that G machine, and an obsession with Zenon then an actual desire to shoot to the moon.