This Week at Door County’s Crossroads: Meteor Showers and One Hundred Years of Country Music

Posted on 04. Aug, 2010 by in Astronomy

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 and The Historical Village at The Crossroads are 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.

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