Hey, short waivers.

With the Perseid Meteor shower about to peak, we thought it would be a good time to

re-air one of our first episodes with our scientist and residents, Astrophysicist Regina

Barber.

It's about shooting stars, which turn out to not actually be stars.

We explain what you're really seeing when that bright dot zips across the night sky.

Okay, we're going to link more info about the Perseid Meteor shower in the episode notes.

I'm going to get out of here so you can enjoy the show.

You're listening to shortwave from NPR.

Ugh, I love that sound.

That's the sound of wishing on shooting stars and animal crossing, which I played a lot

of at the beginning of the pandemic.

But sadly Emily, putting on my scientist and residents hat, the star falling sound,

it's not super accurate.

It's a video game.

Does it need to be accurate?

I'm just saying, in the game, you're picking up pieces of gaseous star from the beach

true.

And I don't know about you, but I've never seen chunks of star just lying around.

Well, that's because you are a real scientist, Regina Barber.

I imagine when you were a kid and gazed into the night sky, you asked technical things

of the cosmos.

...