Sigh, Another Meteor Shower Missed

Since I have been back in the Midwest, coming to Illinois and then, Iowa, I have missed the great meteor showers for one reason-agricultural haze.

Believe it or not, on a night without clouds, London skies are clearer than those in the Bread Basket. The haze comes from the pollen of corn and soybeans, as well as from the dust from the herbicides and pesticides.

It is a lovely warm summer night with a few wispy clouds, but mostly clear, except for haze. At midnight, I went out to see the Perseids--sigh, no such luck.

Haze, haze, haze....and light pollution.

Some of the best sky watching I have done was when I was staying with my dear friend, C, in Kent (see 2011 and on, posts). The meteor showers were spectacular, as she lives two city blocks from the white cliffs between Dover and Folkestone.

Great skies....

Here, the cicadas are singing, the tree frogs croaking out those odd, tenor insect sounds, and the large ground hog, which lives under the back porch, rustles about sniffing for something good to eat out of the garden.

But, I cannot see one shooting star.

Sigh...double wish I was in Kent at C's, as STS is there right now, watching the thunderstorm over the Channel, which will ruin today's cricket match in Canterbury, most likely forcing a draw.

To be a saint

Francis Xavier died with one companion. He contracted a fever while waiting for a ship to rescue him from being abandoned on a small island.

He was 46 years old.

I pray today for the return of such courage and grace to Catholic men.

The Basilica of St. Francis Xavier in Dyersville, Iowa, my home state, has a TLM every Sunday at noon.

Two panoramas of this amazing church may be found here....http://tomato.us/xavier-basilica-1-2011.swf  and here, http://tomato.us/xavier-basilica-alter.swf

http://www.xavierbasilica.com/

More on the Iowa Space Science Center, pets and babies

On my star posting below, a few days ago, I mentioned my brother's cool website. Here is another photo of him with a cat which looks just like a former cat of mine, Puddyman, who now lives in St. Louis, with a very nice girl named Grace. Sadly, when I started traveling, I had to get homes for Puddy, Vladimir and Miho-Chan. Thankfully, they are all with lovely people. This is Lully with Charles Miller. He is my "little brother". I have three-brothers, not cats. As I mentioned a dog and birds below, I thought I should mention cats, as cats are very sensitive. Also, if you want to adopt, there are links towards the bottom of this blog on the right-hand side for kitty, doggy, and baby adoptions. If you can, adopt. This photo was scanned from Saturday's newspaper in Iowa City, so it looks a bit wrinkly.

Praise ye Him, O sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars and light . Ps. 148

Right now, from where I am in Ireland, I can see in the night and morning sky, Jupiter, Venus, Mars, Saturn and the great constellations of Orion and Canis Major with Sirius, the brightest star. If one is in a dark area, Canis Minor and the Hare may also be seen.

Last week, I saw three large shooting stars, one in Orion. Orion is also called "Strider", which, of course, reminds us of Aragorn in LOTR. When I look at Orion, I think of Aragorn , the Christ figure in the book, and of Christ Himself, who is the Hunter of our souls. In the winter sky, He calls us and how can one not praise The Father Creator for such beauty? The winter sky is worthy of watching both at dawn and at dusk. I love to watch Orion stride across the sky.  One can also see Draco and the Little and Big Bears if one is in the right place.

Orion is my favorite constellation and The Pleiades, my favorite cluster. I can only see four of the seven sisters in The Pleiades, and I shall tell their story in another post.  There is too much highway and town light pollution for me to see as much as I would want, but the sky is fantastic.



Here is a great link for all.

By the way , if you want to know more about telescopes , visit my brother's  website in Iowa at this site.