If you stay up late tonight, you will be able to watch one of the most marvelous natural phenomena – the annual August Perseid meteor shower. The optimal viewing time will be the predawn hours of August 13, reported experts from NASA.
The Perseid meteor shower occurs every year in July and August when the earth orbits through the debris of the Swift-Tuttle comet. As pieces of rocks, made of iron-nickel, other minerals, and ice, coming from the constellation Perseus, are pulled in by our planet’s gravity, they evaporate and turn into hot balls of gas entering the atmosphere. This year’s meteor shower will be one of the best to observe, because according to NASA, Jupiter, Venus and the crescent moon will align together as the Perseids peak. Many of the debris entering into Earth’s atmosphere are as small as a grain of sand, but their high speed of up to 160,000 mph is what makes them leave the so-called “tail”. Scientists say the sky gazers have observed the phenomenon for more than 2,000 years and there are different legends and believes related to it in many cultures.
At their peak on August 12, more than a hundred shooting stars per hour will be seen in the sky. The key to a great view is the dark, wide-open sky. Get out of the city, away from artificial lights and find a nice spot in the wilderness. Lie down on the ground or sit down in a comfy reclining chair and look up east. If you don’t find it hard to get up really early or not to go to bed at all, you will see shooting stars falling from all directions, across the entire sky! Give your eyes half an hour to adjust to the pitch-black sky – you will be able to see more fireballs this way. Let’s just hope the sky won’t be cloudy and we will see a magnificent show – after all, the Perseid shower produces more fireballs than any other!
