The Night the Stars Fell

Join Museum Librarian Bill Kemp as he takes us back to November 13, 1833, when the nighttime sky lit up like an Independence Day sparkler in what’s believed to be the most intense meteor shower in recorded human history.

At this time, Central Illinois was still the frontier, and meteor showers were mysterious and misunderstood phenomena. What did early settlers make of this spectacular–and for some, spectacularly terrifying–event? Where, in fact, did these meteors come from? And what’s the connection between the “Night the Stars Fell” and the Lenoids, the annual meteor shower that visits Earth every November? This lavishly illustrated program will answer those and other questions. Bill promises a program sure to fascinate even those folks with little interest in–or knowledge of–astronomy.