What keeps astrophysicist Jaymie Matthews watching the night sky?

If you haven't done it in a while, it can be easy to forget how magical it is to gaze up at the night sky.

Tonight, there might be a bit of extra magic up there. Twice as many meteors are expected to streak from the skies during this year's Perseid meteor shower. 

Astrophysicist Jaymie Matthews will be watching, as he has for many years. 

His fascination with the stars dates back to age two or three.

"I have a few memories from the crib and then I have memories of looking up at the night sky," Jaymie told Candy. "I tell people that I wanted to be who and what I am today before I even understood what it meant."

He got his first telescope at age seven. Jaymie's parents encouraged his passion, even though it was unlike anything familiar in their lives. The astrophysicist recalls his parents' surprise at the mail little Jaymie was getting from NASA and Radio Moscow, where he would write wishing to find out more about the space exploration program. 

"I think secretly they and other family members and neighbors all thought that I was working for some strange secret government project," Jaymie joked.