Perseid Meteor Shower To Bring Fireworks To The Skies Of Earth
Pastor Dale Morgan
Perseid Meteor Shower To Bring Fireworks To The Skies Of Earth*
by Staff Writers
Paris, France (ESA) Aug 09, 2007
As the Perseid meteor shower becomes visible in all its glory on 13
August, natural fireworks will fill the sky. Showers of meteors, or
'shooting stars', appear as bright streaks of light in the sky. The
display runs through the night. Dust trails are left behind by every
comet as it nears the Sun. As Earth's orbit crosses the dust ejected by
the comet Swift-Tuttle, a regular occurrence every August, it provides a
fabulous spectacle for viewers on Earth.
As the particles enter the atmosphere, they burn up, producing the
fireworks. This phenomenon, called the 'Perseid' meteor shower, gets its
name from the constellation Perseus, from where the shooting stars seem
to come.
This year the Perseids are visible from 17 July to 24 August. One or two
per hour can be seen at the start, increasing to about five to ten per
hour in early August. The display will be at its maximum before sunrise
on 13 August, when 80 to 100 meteors should be visible every hour,
weather permitting.
The best time to go observing is during the pre-dawn hours of 13 August.
The occurrence of a new Moon on 12 August will make for perfect
observing conditions.
Even if the sky may not be totally clear, you can expect to see tens of
meteors in the sky from all over Europe. The display will be on all
night, starting from about 23:00 CEST on 12 August, peaking before
sunrise on the 13th. This year, as a bonus, Mars is visible as a bright
red dot in the East, after midnight.
Telescopes or binoculars will not be necessary as the shower is visible
with the naked eye. It is important to be in a dark area, without much
smog, pollution or illumination. Do make yourself comfortable - use a
reclining chair or spread a blanket on the ground. The shooting stars
will appear all over the sky, you need not look in a particular
direction. Just make sure your eyes can adapt to dark.
The Meteor Research Group at ESA is performing coordinated observations
at several locations in Austria and Germany in collaboration with the
German Aerospace Center (DLR) and three more participating institutes:
The 'Institut fur Weltraumforschung', Austria, Technische Universität
Berlin, Germany and the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research,
Germany.
A detailed list of all observation posts can be found on the map. After
the observations are conducted, we will publish pictures provided by
ESA's observation teams. Stay tuned!