Becky, the soon-to-be-in-laws and I were just out swimming in the Zaks’ pool. It’s a beautiful, clear, dark night out here in the Phoenix’s far East Valley, so Ginny turned off the lights to let us stargaze. After several minutes of relatively uneventful viewing of the Milky Way and other celestial objects, an extremely bright meteor suddenly appeared and streaked across the sky to our northeast. It had a green hue and was visible for 5 or 6 seconds. Very cool!

The Orionids meteor shower is supposed to peak overnight tonight, but I’m not sure if this was an Orionid or just an unrelated nearby fireball. Either way, it was awesome! Unfortunately, Becky’s view was blocked by a large rock on the side of the pool. It reminded me of the time I was standing outside the Museum of Natural History in Chicago when lightning struck the Sears Tower — but my view was blocked by a giant stone pillar. D’oh!

A few minutes later, we all got to see a bright red “star” — the planet Mars — rising over the Superstition Mountains. Mars is nine days away from its closest approach to Earth for the next 13 years.