ThePerseids, popularly known as theTears of Saint Lawrence, They’re ahigh activity meteor showerwhich runs between July 17 and August 24. Hismaximum falls this year on the night of Friday 12 to Saturday 13 August, although also at dawn great activity will be observed because the constellation of Perseus will be higher on the horizon.
The comet that gives rise to the Perseids is the109P/Swift-Tuttle, discovered by Lewis Swift and Horace Parnell Tuttle on July 19, 1862. It has a diameter of 9.7 kilometers and its orbit around the Sun lasts a period of 135 years. Its last appearance took place in 1992, producing a peak of activity with 300 meteors / hour in 1993. Since then, activity has progressively declined to normal.
The Zenital Hourly Rate (THZ) forecast for this year is100 meteors / hour, which makes it thethird biggest meteor shower of the year. However, on this occasion the presence of the full Moon will make it difficult to appreciate it in all its splendor, since the most abundant meteors are usually the least heavy, and therefore, the least bright. The optimal time to observe them will bejust before twilight(between 5:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. both in the Canary Islands and in the Peninsula), when the constellation of Perseus will be high on the Northeast horizon (at about 50-70º) and the Moon is about to set.
The Perseid rain is one of the most popular and observed in the Northern Hemisphere because it takes place in August, the holiday month par excellence. The Perseids are also known by the name of tears of San Lorenzo because August 10 is the day of this saint. In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the Perseids took place on the night they were remembered, in such a way that they were associated with the tears that the saint shed when he was burned at the stake, specifically on a grill.
