Over the weekend, three different meteor showers converged and put on a show for anyone who was lucky enough to get a clear, dark night. We asked listeners to send us voice memos as they watched.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Over the weekend, three different meteor showers put on a spectacle for anyone who was lucky enough to get a clear, dark night.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: I think I just saw one.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: I think I – there was…
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: That was a plane.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Fourteen-year-old Abby Bender and 15-year-old Lily Jaffe were on vacation in coastal New Hampshire with their families and friends…
(SOUNDBITE OF SHRIEKING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: No, you made me look.
(SOUNDBITE OF SHRIEKING)
CHANG: …When they saw a double shooting star.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: That was crazy.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Are you kidding me?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Laughter).
SHAPIRO: We heard from another family viewing party up the coast in Machias, Maine.
BETH WANDS: This is Beth Wands with my 7-year-old daughter…
WESLEY WANDS: Wesley.
WANDS: …And 5-year-old son…
COOPER WANDS: Cooper.
WANDS: OK, everybody, lay back.
COOPER: Stop.
WANDS: We’re on our trampoline in the backyard.
SHAPIRO: Now, spotting a shooting star takes patience, and that left some time for brainstorming wishes.
WANDS: I think I’m going to come up with a wish to make on the one I see.
WESLEY: Do you have to make it while it’s still shooting, or do you just – oh, I saw one.
WANDS: Did you?
CHANG: Now, for the record, there are no rules on wishes…
WESLEY: I saw another.
CHANG: …Which is a good thing because Beth and her kids saw many of them.
COOPER: Did you see that?
WANDS: You going to make a wish?
COOPER: I actually did wish for something.
WANDS: What did you wish for?
COOPER: For cuddles.
WANDS: (Laughter) Wishes do come true.
SHAPIRO: Down in Florida, Roxanne Palmer and her partner Tim Hardin headed out to the Longleaf Flatwoods Reserve with their 8-month-old daughter Aurora in tow.
ROXANNE PALMER: So we’ve got camp chairs. We’ve got three layers of mosquito protection. And it’s magical.
TIM HARDIN: That one was a fireball.
SHAPIRO: They, too, cast a wish.
PALMER: If we all had one wish, it would just be that, you know, our family is happy and healthy.
HARDIN: Yeah.
PALMER: Yeah. I mean, that’s probably the most common wish there is, but it’s – it’s a good one. It’s the best one.
HARDIN: Wow. Did you see that one?
PALMER: Yeah.
CHANG: If you missed the show this weekend, there is still time to catch it, though the moon will be getting bigger and bigger over the next few weeks and might begin to upstage the shooting stars.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR”)
CLIFF EDWARDS: (As Jiminy Cricket, singing) When you wish upon a star…
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