"Catch a Falling Star" is a song written by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss. Back in 1957, when crooner and television pioneer Perry Como sang it, almost everybody knew the lyrics: “Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket/never let it fade away.”
Curiously, that same year, 1957, the Space Race began. Russia and the United States began launching satellites, creating what some call a celestial landfill. Since then, some of the most spectacular falling or shooting stars have been created when falling pieces of space junk come in contact with the Earth’s atmosphere.
But in August, we see falling stars -meteors - because the Earth is passing through a the orbital path of Comet Swift -Tuttle. Understand that a comet is made up of rocks, dust, and ice. When a comet comes near our Sun, some of the ice evaporates, so the it leaves a trail of dust and debris.
NASA defines a meteor as “the light phenomena which results when space debris enters the Earth's atmosphere and vaporizes. That bright streak is not actually the debris, but rather the glowing hot air as the hot rock zips through the atmosphere.”
I was at Interlochen in 1992, the last time Swift-Tuttle sped by the Earth in its 133 year orbit. A bunch of camp faculty and staff gathered at a dark spot near Grawn to watch a most spectacular meteor shower EVER. Well, at least in my lifetime.
This year, we won’t see anywhere near as many meteors, we are a bit past the predicted peak, and usually, the best show usually occurs the early hours before dawn when most of us are sleeping.
But keep watching. Folks sometimes see the most stunning streaks in late August. They may be remnant of Comet Swift-Tuttle. They may be falling space junk.
But you won’t be able to “catch a falling star and put it in your pocket.” The streaks of light, though gorgeous and memorable, are really just a lot of hot air.
