This week, most people likely missed the pinnacle of a thrilling cosmic event.

The annual Perseid meteor shower, which peaked early Tuesday morning, gave those willing to be awake about 2 a.m. and outdoors a chance to see up to 90 meteors an hour.

For Mike Smith, senior astronomy educator at The North Museum of Natural History & Science, the fact that most people likely didn't notice — or even know about — the annual display is unfortunate.

"I think the night sky is one of those things we take for granted. We know it is up there and sometimes glance at it, but we don't really know what is up there or what we're looking at," Smith said.

This week, the night sky presented a flurry of "shooting stars," including some slow, colorful "fireballs" reminiscent of fireworks.

The Perseid shower results from Earth's orbit passing through debris left by Swift-Tuttle comet.

"Comets are always leaving their debris behind, littering up the solar system, if you will. We sorta plow through that debris, and that's when we have a meteor shower," Smith said.

The flashes from meteors come from small particles — the size of a grain of sand or pebble — burning up as they hit Earth's atmosphere.

The Perseid meteor shower gets its name because the meteors seem to originate from the constellation Perseus, which rises around midnight in the northeastern sky.

While the peak of the Perseid shower was Tuesday morning, Perseid meteors will be visible through most of next week. Unfortunately, tonight's full moon likely will make it harder to see them.

"An ideal scenario is not to have the moon visible at all and to be out in the country — a really dark sky," Smith said.

At North Museum, Smith oversees a variety of programs, including planetarium shows, special events and a new astronomy club for children. The goal is to "capture young astronomers at heart," he said.

Smith, who grew up near Selinsgrove in the Susquehanna River town of Port Trevorton, said his own career had an early start.

"It is one of those old-fashioned stories that you hear from people who are in the astronomy field: It has always been a childhood dream," Smith said.

As a youngster, Smith lived in a rural area, where there were few lights at night.

"I think for me I was just overwhelmed with how much I could see in the night sky because it was in the country environment," Smith said.

After graduating from Selinsgrove Area High School, Smith attended Lycoming College, where he earned a degree in astronomy and physics.

After college, he stayed at Lycoming for a year, working as a part-time instructor in the astronomy and geology labs. Then, Smith took a job as science director for Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science in Evansville, Ind.

After five years helping set up and oversee exhibits in Indiana, Smith took the job at North Museum in September 2005, partly to be near his family. He now lives in Lititz with his wife and infant son.

Smith, known as "Cosmic Mike," is president of Astronomy Enthusiasts of Lancaster County, which is not affiliated with the museum. He also writes a biweekly column for the Saturday edition of this newspaper. "Astronomy has always, always been a passion of mine. It just fires you up inside to be able to help educate people, to get them to be a little bit more motivated to looking at the night sky," Smith said.

For information about the North Museum and its astronomy club for children, contact Smith at 291-4315 or e-mail him at cosmicmike@fandm.edu.

E-mail: cumble@lnpnews.com or call 481-6031