CLOSE UP : Cosmic Zay

He chases balls of fire by day--and fireballs by night.

Firefighter George Zay was named “the most active amateur meteor observer in the world” for 1992 by the 500-member International Meteor Organization in Belgium. That year, he spent 218 hours observing meteors; last year, he logged 460 hours, sending his findings to the meteor group.

Zay, 47, got interested in astronomy in the seventh grade (“I had aspirations to be an astronaut”) and his fascination with it never waned. Six nights a month, from sunset to sunrise, he spots fireballs, plots their course and searches for new showers from the wooden observatory he built in Descanso, about 40 miles east of San Diego. “I get pretty excited every time I see one,” says Zay, who lives in La Mesa with his (“very tolerant”) wife and two kids. “I saw 74 last year, almost one each night.”

His observatory is equipped with 10-inch and 4-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes, powerful 14x100 binoculars, cameras, an FM radio, “a little pantry cabinet” and a cot (with electric blanket, of course). “After midnight, until about 3 a.m.--closer to sunrise--is the ideal time for observing,” he says. “I listen to the radio--to keep my mind active to stay awake--and record data every half hour.”

Zay shares his observatory with schoolchildren and sponsors the Astronomy Club at Lemon Grove Middle School. “I show the students constellations and the telescope videos--and quiz them,” he says.

“I find it fascinating trying to figure out what’s out there and how it interacts with Earth.” But he says that spending long, lonely nights gazing into the stars might not be for everyone. “It is like watching grass grow.”