Cloudy weather foils students’ star-gazing plans

    In the early morning skies Tuesday, above Murray State’s campus, celestial rocks fell into the earth’s atmosphere. Unfortunately for anticipating students, clouds hid the light show.
    The 2009 Leonid Meteor Shower occurred somewhere above the clouds on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.        
    This shower was supposed to be one of the biggest that many people would ever experience, Art Pallone, associate professor of engineering and physics said.    
    “To understand why this one is so important, you have to first understand what a meteor shower actually is,” Pallone said. “Comets go around the sun in a football-like, ellipse orbit. The heat of the sun causes debris to fly off the comet and into the earth’s orbit. This is a meteor.
    “The debris then slams into the earth’s atmosphere and that’s what we call a shooting star,” he said.
    The Temple-Tuttle comet, named after its discoverers, caused this meteor shower, Pallone said.
    “This time we’re passing through a more dense region of debris that was left behind, so there should be more meteors,” he said. “The meteors won’t be in any one part of the sky, but they’ll look like they’re coming from one part.” 
    If students had been able to view the shower, the meteors would have looked like they were radiating from the constellation Leo, which is where the name Leonid comes from, Pallone said. 
    Many students on campus were excited about the shower. However, thanks to clouds, rain and cold weather, the meteor shower was hidden from view. 
    Laura Marks, sophomore from Madisonville, Ky., and Samantha Shields, junior from Russellville, Ky., said they made plans to watch the shower.
    “I’ve never seen a meteor shower before and I was excited about it, but we couldn’t even see the stars,” Shields said.
    Austin Yearta, sophomore from Louisville, Ky., said he was also disappointed he could not experience his first meteor shower.
    “A group of my friends were going to go out in the middle of nowhere farm country where there were no lights,” Yearta said.
    Yearta had the right idea according to Pallone.
    “The darker skies, the better,” Pallone said. “The best thing to do is lay a blanket on the ground and just look up.”
    The Leonid Shower is not the only one to grace the skies of Calloway County. There is at least a shower or two each year.
    Those interested in more information about what showers are visible at Murray State can check out Star Date’s Web site at stardate.org.
    Contact Booth at jamie.booth@murraystate.edu.    

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