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Happening
at the Crossroads:
August 2,
2010
by Coggin
Heeringa
On
clear nights, streaks of light from the Perseid Meteor Shower are
already appearing above Crossroads at Big Creek and lighting the rest
of the Northern Hemisphere.
Scientists anticipate that the
annual Perseid Meteor shower will peak in the early hours of the
morning oo August 12 and 13. All of next week, our summer family
programs will be activities preparing for this annual sky show.
How do scientists know just when to expect a meteor shower? And, what’s a meteor anyway?
Meteors
– what some people call shooting stars – are actually light from
glowing atmospheric gases which are responding to the friction caused
when particles plunge toward the Earth at approximately 132,000 miles
an hour.
Most (but not all) of the particles are debris left in
the orbital path of Comet Swift-Tuttle. Some of the dust has been there
for as long as a thousand years and some of was deposited by the comet
in 1992, the last time it traveled around the Sun in its 133.28-year
orbit.
For most of its travels, the comet stays frozen and
intact, but when a comet gets close to our Sun, the ice and frozen
gasses… carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, and ammonia…
sublimate [vaporize from a solid state], discharging a trail of small
rocks [mostly the size of sand grains, but perhaps as large as marbles]
in its path. When the Earth passes through the stream of small rocks,
which it does every year in August, we are treated to a meteor shower.
Unfortunately
for people who sleep during the night, a meteor show is usually most
impressive after midnight, but on Wednesday, August 11, Crossroads will
open the StarGarden in the Crossroads Astronomy Center at 9:30 pm and
folks are welcome to join us for the celestial show. Meteor watchers
usually bring blankets or outdoor furniture and snacks to increase
their enjoyment of the evening. [Note that you can see meteors from any
unobstructed place. Many Door County residents and visitors will be
gathering on the beach at Newport State Park on the evening of August
12 to take advantage of the park's wonderful dark sky.]
“One
Hundred Years of Country Music” with Ken Pollock, will be the special
Sunday afternoon event this week at the Historical Village at The
Crossroads on August 8. Ken is a favorite with Crossroads Village
visitors as he teaches music history through performance. Ken’s concert
will begin at 1:30 at the Chapel at the Crossroads. The concert is free
but concert goers are encourahed to drop a gift into the musician’s
donation jar.
Crossroads at Big Creek offers family programs
Monday through Thursday at 11:00. The Collins Learning Center and the
Historical Village are open between 1:30-3:30 daily. Rain Barrels are
available during open hours.
Crossroads
at Big Creek is a donor- supported learning preserve welcoming learners
of all ages to programs in science, history and the environment.
The Collins Learning Center, open daily 1:30-3:30, located at
2041 Michigan Street (County Highway TT) in Sturgeon Bay.
Wednesday, August 4, 11:00
Family Program: Country Store and the Garden
Visit
the Greene General Store to learn of the storekeeper and his wife.
What’s for sale in 1900? And what’s growing in the Garden? Free. Meet
in the Greene General Store in the Historical Village.
Thursday, August 5, 11:00
“Birds and Wildflowers”
Look and listen for the birds of summer and discover what is blooming in the garden. Free. Meet at the Collins Learning Center.
Many of
the Past News articles may be retrieved from this
directory,
indexed and named in the following manner: 080101-news.htm
where
the first two numbers are the year, the second two the month and the
last two the date.
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