The Orionid Meteor Shower

I'm tired today but it's my own dang fault. Yesterday Duncan heard a Star Date on public radio talking about the Orionid meteor shower and how it would be peaking on Wednesday night after the moon set around midnight. Well, he got all excited and went to bed early so I could get him up at midnight and we could go and see it. I didn't go to sleep early and didn't get to bed until 2 am and had to get up about 6:30 to get ready for work. So I'm tired.

It's amazing how slow Duncan gets up most mornings but last night he popped right out of bed and got dressed without prodding. We piled into my little S-10 and went out the Northwest Expressway past Piedmont but not quite to Okarche. We turned off the road and then down a side road off that and got to a really dark area.

You could still see the glow of Oklahoma City in the distance to the SouthEast as we sat in the back of the truck wrapped in some green blankets. We sat and watched the sky and talked about stars and stuff. I saw a couple of good ones and a few faint trails. Duncan saw one really good one and a couple of faint trails. After about an hour of sitting out there we went home.

The Orionid meteor shower is what happens when the Earth passes through the debris field left by Halley's comet. Here's a good article on the Orionids.