Nature Can Surprise Us

Fireball Outburst

On Sept. 9th, a surprising flurry of fireballs lit up the sky over eastern parts of the United States. All-sky cameras at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, recorded 25+ meteors, most as bright as Jupiter or Venus. A preliminary analysis by NASA astronomers suggests this is an outburst of "September Perseids," a little-known shower that has erupted this way three times in the past century. Although the show is almost certainly over, sky watchers are advised to be on the lookout for more fireballs tonight and in the nights ahead; the September Perseids are not well understood and they could surprise us again.

I got to see these since the night was as clear as a bell. I wondered what was happening since the Perseids were a month ago. Finding about this little gem of meteor shower brightened my day.

For more about the September Perseids or other interesting phenomena, go to SpaceWeather.com.

And remember: Keep looking up. You just might see something special.