Nuit des étoiles

Anybody catch the falling stars spectaculaire on August 6? Well, we did.

We live down the street from the Toulouse Observatory Park, and an afternoon stroll there alerted me to this celestial event. A sign scotch-taped to the door of one of the administrative buildings of The Observatory was boasting, of course, a big hoedown in conjunction with the local chapter of the Association française d'astronomie. The weird, half brick/half cement dome in which the telescope is housed was even cracked a notch in anticipation.

The pleebs of Toulouse don't really get to see much falling star activity, thanks to all the damn lights, so we decided to trek out to the country and get front row seats at the show. Destination: Sainte Juliette, a hamlet of about six houses and rows and rows of sunflowers.

Lights out, heads turned skyward, and many false sightings later ("another satellite??? I'm starting to feel paranoid."), we saw exactly one falling star. Jean-Baptiste claims to have seen another, but I think he was just trying to make me feel like the inferior geek that I am.

Next stellar event: Aurora Borealis!