Forget a obscure for a moment: Perseid meteor showering set to rise Aug. 12
With all a speak about a entrance solar eclipse, the Perseid meteor showering — one of a year’s best — has been left in a dust. But it’s time to forget about a object for a while and concentration on “shooting stars.”
Though we can see meteors on any given night, roughly each month we’re treated to a poignant meteor shower. We get these as Earth plows by a waste left over from flitting comets. As tiny cometary waste enters a atmosphere, it browns adult briefly, appearing as splendid streaks in a sky.
In a box of a Perseids, Earth is whizzing by particles left over from Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, that final upheld us in 1992.Â
- Fireball speckled sharpened opposite southern B.C. sky
- A bird? A plane? Edwin’s home run? Nope. A meteor
The meteor showering has already begun, as it runs from mid-July to a finish of August each year. But as we nearby a peak, that occurs on Aug. 12, a series of meteors per hour increases. On a arise night, we might see as many as 50 to 100 meteors per hour in a dark-sky location.
However, there is a downside to this year’s shower: a moon. Unfortunately, it will arise around 11 p.m. — about 70 per cent of it bright — washing out all though a brightest meteors.
A combination of a Perseid meteor shower, on a arise night, Aug 11/12, 2016, looking northeast to a eager indicate in a constellation Perseus, left of centre. (Image © Alan Dyer)
Still, that doesn’t meant we shouldn’t conduct out to try and locate some meteors. You’ll be means to see them boost in numbers a few days forward of a arise and continue in a days following it.
While a best time to locate some meteors is after midnight and into a diminutive hours of a morning, a moon won’t give we that chance. Instead, try to conduct out before moonrise over a subsequent few days (you can check here for your sold location).
There’s no apparatus indispensable for this astronomical event. If possible, only find a dim place divided from city lights, distortion down and demeanour up. And stay off that phone! The light will forestall your eyes from bettering to a dark, that can take as prolonged as an hour in some cases. The improved your eyes are blending to a dark, a improved a possibility you’ll have of throwing gloomy meteors.
If we occur to locate some meteors, we might notice that they’re rising from one sold point, called a radiant. In this case, it’s a constellation Perseus, hence a name of a shower.
Last year, we gifted an outburst of Perseid meteors with some-more than common tarnishing opposite a sky. Unfortunately, no such outburst is approaching this year.
Article source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/perseid-meteor-shower-peak-1.4231217?cmp=rss