Editing Perseids (section)

==Historical observations and associations==
[[File:Perseid meteor 2007.jpg|thumb|A Perseid in 2007]]
Some [[Catholicism|Catholics]] refer to the Perseids as the "tears of [[Lawrence of Rome|Saint Lawrence]]", suspended in the sky but returning to Earth once a year on August 10, the canonical date of that saint's martyrdom in 258 AD.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,729450,00.html |title=Science: Tears of St. Lawrence |magazine=TIME |date=1926-08-23 |access-date=2009-08-12}}</ref> The [[saint]] is said to have been burned alive on a gridiron. His manner of death is almost certainly the origin of the Mediterranean [[folk legend]] claiming that the shooting stars are the sparks of Saint Lawrence's [[martyrdom]]. The legend holds that during the night of August 9 to 10, cooled embers appear in the ground under plants; these embers are known as the "coal of Saint Lawrence."<ref>{{in lang|it}} [http://www.sanlorenzomaggiore.net/9-agosto-stelle-cadenti-e-carbone-sotto-il-basilico-8142.html Falling stars and coal under the basil] ''www.sanlorenzomaggiore.net''</ref><ref>{{in lang|it}} [http://balbianblog.blogspot.it/2007/08/il-carbone-di-san-lorenzo.html The Coal of Saint Lawrence] ''balbianblog.blogspot.it''</ref>

The transition in favor of the Catholic saint and his feast day on August 10, moving away from pagan gods and their festivals — a process known as [[Christianization of saints and feasts|Christianization]] — was facilitated by the phonetic assonance of the Latin name Laurentius with [[Acca Larentia]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://utestudents.blogspot.it/2015/08/summer-sky-4.html |title=SHOOTING STARS |publisher= utestudents BLOG}}</ref> a goddess previously celebrated during the summer period alongside [[Priapus]], as a fertility deity. Among the Romans, it was believed that the trails of the Perseids represented the benevolent rain of Priapus' seed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Powell |first=J. |title=Cosmic Debris |chapter=Observing Meteors and Meteor Showers |date=2017 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-51016-3 |pages= 179–216|chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51016-3_9 |access-date= |series=Astronomers' Universe |location=Cham |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-51016-3_9}}</ref> In this context, the god's [[cosmogonic]] phallus acted as a life-giver, blessing the fields and promoting fertility. During the same period, [[phallic processions]] and other sexual rites were common. Christianity, which had a different relationship with sexuality and generativity compared to [[Sexuality in ancient Rome|Greco-Roman culture]], replaced this sexual connotation with a reference to martyrdom.<ref>{{in lang|it}}{{cite web|access-date=14 August 2024 |archive-date=14 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614055717/http://www.informareonline.it/public/depliant.pdf |publisher=Associazione Turistica Pro Loco Ardea |title=Alla scoperta di Castrum Inui |url=http://www.informareonline.it/public/depliant.pdf}}<!-- auto-translated from Italian by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>

In 1836 [[Adolphe Quetelet]] wrote: ''J'ai cru remarquer aussi une fréquence plus grande de ces météores au mois d'août (du 8 au 15)'' "I think I noticed also a greater frequency of these meteors in the month of August (from 8 to 15)."<ref name="AORB1836">''Annuaire de l'Observatoire Royal de Bruxelles'', Volume 4, 1836, [https://books.google.com/books?id=5jxTAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA272 p272] (In French)</ref> After studying historical records, he predicted a peak on 10 August. He then wrote to other astronomers, who confirmed this prediction on the night of 10 August 1837. Quetelet missed the shower due to bad weather.<ref name="Sauval">Sauval, J., "Quetelet and the Discovery of the First Meteor Showers", ''WGN, Journal of the International Meteor Organization'', {25} February 1997, pp [https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1997JIMO...25...21S 21-33]
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In 1866, after the [[perihelion]] passage of Swift-Tuttle in 1862, the Italian astronomer [[Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli]] discovered the link between meteor showers and comets.<ref name="Sauval"/> The finding is contained in an exchange of letters with [[Angelo Secchi]].

[[File:Swift-Tuttle Comet Particles.jpg|thumb|Observation from the [[International Space Station]] at Earth orbit]]