Whooooooshh!

Cosmonauts: So the only way tonight’s Perseid meteor shower is going to look like this ——–>>>  is if you watch it from a Jedi starfighter going warp speed.

But still. The sky should look pretty rockets-in-flight tonight.

This particular meteor shower actually has an interesting back story. According to UniverseToday.com, “The Perseid meteor shower has a wonderful and somewhat grisly history. Often referred to as the “Tears of St. Lawrence” this annual shower coincidentally occurs roughly about the same date as the saint’s death is commemorated on August 10.”

So who was this St. Lawrence?

According to AmericanCatholic.org, St. Lawrence was quite the Mel Gibson character. When the prefect of Rome demanded all the church’s monies, golds, and such to help fund his world-conquering hobby, St. Lawrence responded like an utter sly, peace-loving dog. From the Catholic website:

Lawrence replied that the Church was indeed rich. “I will show you a valuable part. But give me time to set everything in order and make an inventory.” After three days he gathered a great number of blind, lame, maimed, leprous, orphaned and widowed persons and put them in rows. When the prefect arrived, Lawrence simply said, “These are the treasure of the Church.”

Bad ass, right? It gets even better.

The prefect was so angry he told Lawrence that he would indeed have his wish to die—but it would be by inches. He had a great gridiron prepared, with coals beneath it, and had Lawrence’s body placed on it. After the martyr had suffered the pain for a long time, the legend concludes, he made his famous cheerful remark, “It is well done. Turn me over!”

Turn me over! Hot damn, I like that!

Scientists are predicting a “fall rate” of about 30 per hour, so make sure not to watch it with someone who you think will constantly be saying, “You see that one?” “You see that one?” “What about that one?”

Smack!

Some reports say that peak time will be between 4 and 5 am, but there’s also a chance of rain, a big (distracting) orange moon, and foggy contact lenses to worry about, so you’ll have to keep your eyes to the sky as much as possible if you want to see the best of it.

Enjoy your solar system. I love you.