Human History of the Perseid Meteor Shower

Peaking right about now is the the Perseid Meteor shower, when the Earth runs into debris left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle as it orbits around the Sun - causing these rocks to enter the Earth's atmosphere where they burn up as little meteorites should, producing lovely little trails of fire. In today's New York Times there is an interesting article by Prof. Christopher Cokinos of Utah State University on the history of this meteor show. Go here to read it, I personally enjoyed it quite a bit. Enjoy!

Astronomy and Art

Astronomy has appeared in art pieces for a long time, from stars in cave drawings to art-quality images coming out of telescopes today. Here is an interesting article on telescopes in the paintings of J. Brueghel the Elder, whose works is actually very useful in tracing the development of telescopes. Enjoy!