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Health & Fitness

Watch for 'Shooting Stars' into Early Sunday Morning

This weekend is the peak of the Orionid meteor shower. Around 20 meteors per hour could be visible, especially past midnight after the moon sets.

The other night, I was out walking my dog around midnight. Laguna Niguel is so quiet at night and as we walked along, I was gazing upward at the clear sky, and bright stars. I thought: “Wouldn't it be nice to see a shooting star to wish on?”

At that moment a meteor streaked across the sky. And I made my wish.

This weekend is the peak of the Orionid meteor shower. Around 20 meteors per hour could be visible, especially past midnight after the moon sets. These are fast moving meteors that can leave trails or even be bright fireballs.

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The source of these meteors is in the area of the constellation of Orion. Orion was a hunter and hero in Greek mythology. There were many stories of his birth and death, in one he dies after being stung by a giant scorpion (perfect timing as we are soon entering the time of Scorpio). Zeus then placed him in the stars.

I never pass up a chance to make a wish. Shooting stars bring our attention upward, away from the mundane and everyday of our lives. We look up and for a moment, we think of something bigger and grander that we might do or have. And we're reminded the universe is a big place and that anything can happen.

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