The Perseid meteor shower peaks this weekend and it's even better this year
The annual Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak this weekend, sending bright trails of light streaking across the night sky.
The annual Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak this weekend, sending bright trails of light streaking across the night sky.
Space Exploration
Aug 9, 2023
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The Perseid meteor shower, a celestial event eagerly awaited by millions of skywatchers around the world, is about to make its annual return to the night sky. The shower is predicted to reach its peak before dawn on Sunday, ...
Space Exploration
Aug 7, 2023
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This year the Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak on the night of 12–13 August, giving skywatchers a potentially impressive summer treat. The meteors are best viewed from the northern hemisphere, and in ideal conditions ...
Astronomy
Aug 2, 2023
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Those who enjoy watching the skies will see two events later this week collide: A supermoon will compete with the Perseid meteor shower to light the night.
Astronomy
Aug 10, 2022
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Many Perseid-related news stories and social media posts state that the maximum rate is about 100 meteors per hour, which is a lot. So, folks get excited and go out on the peak night, braving mosquitos and other nightly hazards. ...
Space Exploration
Aug 10, 2021
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The Perseid meteor shower peaks Aug. 12 to 13 and the stars are aligning for a really big show, according to Western's Denis Vida.
Space Exploration
Aug 10, 2021
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The Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak on the night of 12-13 August, giving skywatchers a potentially impressive summer treat. The meteors are best viewed from the northern hemisphere, and in ideal conditions with no ...
Space Exploration
Aug 4, 2021
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The Perseids meteor shower is one of the most spectacular annual meteor showers. Made of debris from comet Swift-Tuttle they have been observed by sky-watchers for thousands of years and this year the LIC1 camera of the Canary ...
Space Exploration
Aug 13, 2020
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The Perseid meteor shower, an annual celestial event beloved by millions of skywatchers around the world, is about to make its annual return to the night sky. And thanks to a new Moon, there'll be no bright moonlight to hinder ...
Space Exploration
Aug 7, 2018
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Bright shooting stars are one of nature's great wonders. Like the one in the main image, which was visible from Devon in the south-west of England in June, these fireballs are caused by space rocks hitting Earth's atmosphere. ...
Space Exploration
Aug 23, 2017
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The Perseids ( /ˈpɜrsiːɨdz/) are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle. The Perseids are so-called because the point from which they appear to come, called the radiant, lies in the constellation Perseus. The name derives in part from the word Perseides (Περσείδες), a term found in Greek mythology referring to the sons of Perseus. The stream of debris is called the Perseid cloud and stretches along the orbit of the comet Swift-Tuttle. The cloud consists of particles ejected by the comet as it travels on its 130-year orbit. Most of the dust in the cloud today is around a thousand years old. However, there is also a relatively young filament of dust in the stream that was pulled off the comet in 1862. The rate of meteors originating from this filament is much higher than for the older part of the stream.
The Perseid meteor shower has been observed for about 2000 years, with the earliest information on this meteor shower coming from the Far East. Some Catholics refer to the Perseids as the "tears of St. Lawrence", since 10 August is the date of that saint's martyrdom.
The shower is visible from mid-July each year, with the peak in activity being between August 9 and 14, depending on the particular location of the stream. During the peak, the rate of meteors reaches 60 or more per hour. They can be seen all across the sky, but because of the path of Swift-Tuttle's orbit, Perseids are primarily visible in the northern hemisphere. As with all meteor showers, the rate is greatest in the pre-dawn hours, since the side of the Earth nearest to turning into the sun scoops up more meteors as the Earth moves through space. In 2009, the estimated peak Zenithal Hourly Rate was 173, but fainter meteors were washed out by a waning gibbous moon.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA