The annual Leonid meteor shower is one of the night sky’s most exciting events. Our planet is currently passing through a debris trail left behind in space hundreds of years ago by Comet Tempel-Tuttle. As those small fragments of ice and stone hit our atmosphere at thousands of miles per hour they burn up, producing bright trails known as meteors or shooting stars. Fragments that make it to the surface of the Earth are meteorites, but the diminutive particles that generate the Leonids are too small and friable to survive their passage through our atmosphere.

Artist's impression of a meteor shower

Peak meteor activity is expected to occur between midnight and dawn tonight and into Tuesday morning. Bill Cooke of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office stated: “We’re predicting 20 to 30 meteors per hour over the Americas.”

The Leonids take their name from Leo, due to an optical illusion that sometimes make it appear as if they emanate from that constellation.

Tucson’s dark skies are ideal viewing for meteor showers, especially for night owls who are happy to stay up into the wee hours. If you’re so inclined, turn off the house lights, mix up some hot chocolate or a favorite tipple, head outside after midnight, park yourself in a spot with an unobstructed view of the heavens and see what transpires. It may be a memorable celestial show.

This coming Saturday, July 18, a host of astronomers, NASA engineers, and space program specialists and enthusiasts will convene in the Kuiper Space Sciences Building on the U of A campus to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The event is organized by the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL), an outfit that was intimately involved with the planning and execution of the Apollo missions.

Activities include lectures, films about the Moon and the Apollo program, displays of telescopes, meteorites, moon rocks, and space program memorabilia. There will also be kids’ activities, question-and-answer sessions with senior researchers, planetarium tours and night sky viewing with telescopes (weather permitting).

Meteorite and space program display at LPL

My science company, Aerolite Meteorites, was kindly invited by LPL to participate in the event, and we will be bringing a spectacular display of genuine meteorites, along with photos, slideshows of our expeditions, and information about our work in recovering and studying rocks from space. Most of the specimens on display are from the Aerolite Meteorites private reference collection and have never been seen in public before.

That most famous of footprints: Apollo 11 astronauts on the Moon. Photograph by NASA/courtesy nasaimages.org

The event is free and open to the public. Location: Kuiper Space Sciences Building, Rooms 308, 312, 330, and the atrium. Times: 2 to 8 pm, Saturday, July 18, 2009.

For more information about the Apollo 11 anniversary visit the LPL calendar

Few Tucsonans are aware of the fact that a child of the space program lives quietly among us.

Back in the heady days of the Apollo lunar missions, when the eyes of the world were upon us and America was the leader in technological achievement and bold space exploration, a number of ingenious science experiments were planned to coincide with the celebrated moon landings.

The early moon missions took about a week: three days out; three days back, and a day or two on the lunar surface. The Apollo 14 mission lasted a little longer—nine days. America’s first man in space, the daring Alan Shepard, commanded, along with Lunar Module pilot Ed Mitchell and Command Module pilot Stuart Roosa. A joint project between NASA and the United States Forest Service resulted in Roosa taking about 500 seeds, from five different types of terrestrial trees, along with him on the long journey to our closest celestial neighbor, a quarter of a million miles away.

Apollo 14 Command Module pilot and godfather of the Moon Trees, Stuart Roosa. Photograph by NASA/Courtesy of nasaimages.org

When the Apollo 14 crew returned safely to Earth in February of 1971, the seeds—which had spent more than a week exposed to cosmic rays and weightlesness—were given to the USFS and germinated. The resulting seedlings were planted around the US and some were presented as gifts to foreign nations.

Sadly, in the intervening decades the whereabouts of the majority of the Moon Trees has become a mystery, and some have died. As of June 2009, the locations of only 55 surviving Moon Trees have been recorded. Dr. David Williams of the NASA Goddard Flight Center has made a hobby of documenting the site and status of all known surviving Moon Trees and, thanks to him, when I moved to Tucson, I knew one of them was waiting for me.

Tucson's very own astronaut lives on the U of A campus

Immediately east of the recently-closed Flandrau Planetarium, right in the middle of town on the UA campus, there resides a splendid and majestic sycamore tree. Beside it stands a plaque that includes this message:

“This seedling was grown from the very seeds that journeyed to the moon and back on board Apollo 14.”

The plaque beside Tucson's Moon Tree

If you find yourself near the University of Arizona campus and feel the need for some shade, a contemplative moment, or if you have the desire to commune with a real astronaut, stop by and pay your respects. To the best of my knowledge, the grand and rarely-visited sycamore is the only permanent resident of Tucson who has been to the Moon and back.

To learn more, please visit Dr. Williams’ fascinating and informative Moon Trees website.