Life — December 19, 1930 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of "Shooting Stars" Page This page contains a letter from Jack Cluett to Dr. Charles P. Oliver at the Flower Astronomical Observatory in Philadelphia, describing Cluett's attempt to observe and count meteors during a November meteor shower. The letter humorously recounts his failed efforts—freezing conditions, lost notes, snow obscuring views, and mistaking automobile headlights leaving a club for meteors. The accompanying cartoon depicts a man in an "Insane Asylum" speaking to a woman, with the caption "He certainly is crazy about it, Madame!" The joke suggests that observing meteors so intensely could drive one to madness—satirizing the obsessive dedication amateur astronomers bring to their hobby.