Hailing into earth’s atmosphere from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, the Perseid is one of the most plentiful showers with an estimated 50 to 100 meteors seen per hour, according to NASA. The peak of the Perseid is Wednesday and Thursday, as the burning bright meteors leave trails of lights and colors behind them.
“I’ve been observing the Perseid since the 1960s,” Graybill said. “They can have some very nice showers. My understanding is that it’s supposed to be reasonably high this year. Peak rate, I think they say about 130 meteors per hour.
“The Perseid tends to have some nice bright meteors and they tend to be fast,” said the Village of Liberty Park resident. “There’s a couple of other meteor showers that have slower ones that just kind of crawl across the sky — those are kind of fun. But the Perseid’s are fast and they tend to be bright. Every so often, you’ll get a nice bright fireball that will light up the sky. Now, that would be from a completely dark site and someplace that has clear skies and here, in Florida, our skies tend to get a haze at least.”
First founded in 1988 as The Villages Stargazers, The Villages Astronomy Club is a resident lifestyle club that educates residents about the basics of astronomy and provides the space and equipment to look at the stars.
Graybill, a retired aerospace engineer, said his lifelong interest in space led to him discovering The Villages Astronomy Club in 2004, when his parents moved to The Villages. He joined the club in 2019 and then became its president in 2022.
“I’ve been an amateur astronomer since I was a child,” Graybill said. “I’ve been part of astronomy clubs since I was in high school. I always enjoyed being able to spend time with other people with common interests. Professionally, I’ve designed various different parts of spacecraft launch vehicles, so the rockets we get to see going up to space hold some of my work in them.”
With meetings being open to people of any experience level, The Villages Astronomy Club’s Space Academy is where club members discuss current topics in astronomy and space exploration. During the Space Academy meeting on Aug. 3 at the Truman Recreation Center, Toni Graybill, Mark’s wife, shared information about the Perseid meteor shower, including what it is and how best to view it.
Overcast skies kept the meeting from moving outdoors for the Observers Workshop’s hands-on viewing experience — either by eye, binoculars or a telescope.
“Our Florida weather makes it difficult to observe, so I haven’t had a chance to see any Perseids yet,” Mark said. “It has kind of a slow ramp up, but it lasts for a long time. There is the peak coming on Aug. 12 and that often makes people think that that’s the only night you can see them, but it actually is a good shower from about a week before that to about a week after that.”
Recently, Mark and other experienced club members led a program for children and teens visiting their grandparents for the summer during Camp Villages. Toni said even though it can be difficult to see the solar system in Florida’s summer sky, the information can bring families and friends closer together.
“Our newsletter has over 1,000 people subscribed and they don’t all live in Florida,” she said. “People in our club can tell a family member when to look out the sky, or if they are a snowbird, they can take the information they learned here back home. There also is a member who has sent their telescope to another state.”
Club members agree the Graybills provide a wealth of knowledge and resources that help fuel their passion for peering in the sky.
“Mark and Toni have been wonderful instructors,” said Jeff Kahler, of the Village of Bradford. “Mark has a high level of experience and he’s very well read. What I know about astronomy I can put in my back tooth, but he’s got so much knowledge he shares with us.”
Mark said one piece of information he shares with people is that they don’t need binoculars or a telescope to see the meteors because they cover such a wide area of sky. Instead, the human eye is the best tool to use.
“The best astronomical instrument for meteor showers is the lounge chair with the best accessory of a cool drink,” he said. “You want to have a fairly clear view toward the north to be able to catch these because the radiant point will tend to be in the northeast toward the head in the constellation near Cassiopeia before midnight.”
With the Perseid meteor shower expected to be visible for over another week, Mark said he looks forward to nights outside, searching for a glimpse of the unique and unpredictable sky show.
“Comets are unpredictable,” he said. “ The fun part of meteor showers is you never know quite what you’re going to get. The whole point is to get those telescopes out under the sky and use them. I enjoy sharing the sky, so I think my favorite thing to do is take my telescope out and show other people stuff in the sky.”
For more information about The Villages Astronomy Club, visit vlgastroclub.org.
Staff writer Brea Jones can be reached at 352-753-1119, ext. 5414, or brea.jones@thevillagesmedia.com.
