One of the great events of each summer, the Perseids, is approaching. The meteor shower, which will have its maximum activity between the dawn of August 11 to 13, will allow you to enjoy up to 50 meteors per hour in almost the entire country. In the Cantabrian area, Galicia and the north of Castilla y León, the clouds will hinder visibility on the last night of the peak, according to the digital meteorological support eltiempo.es .
Meteorological models indicate that on the nights of the Perseids peak, there could be rainfall and cloudiness in the Cantabrian communities and the extreme north of Galicia, which could worsen visibility. The sky will also be covered with some clouds in the north of Castilla y León. The rest of the country will enjoy clear skies perfect to observe the meteor shower in the best way.
And will the moonlight hide the meteors?
On this occasion, the peak of activity will coincide with the last quarter moon and its brightness could hide part of the meteors. Despite this, the Perseids are capable of producing very bright meteors and under ideal conditions up to 50 meteors per hour can be seen.
This year, a much calmer rain is expected. It is worth remembering that the meteor shower lasts from July 17 to August 24 and at any time during that period the Perseids can be seen even though the number of meteors is much smaller.
The Perseids are a typical meteor shower whose best time to observe is before sunrise. Although already from the hours after sunset, it is also possible to glimpse a car.
Fireballs are very bright meteors that can light up the sky in a very marked way. They appear before midnight, when the radiant, the point from which they appear to come, is near the horizon. In the case of the northern hemisphere , it is a great opportunity to enjoy a rare phenomenon. However, from the southern hemisphere it is not possible to observe these fireballs since the radiant of the Perseids is not visible until after midnight.
Shooting Star Double: Delta Aquarids and Perseids
The Delta Aquarid rain has a somewhat more promising outlook. This meteor fall lasts from July 12 to August 23. Its peak occurs much earlier, on the night of July 29. However, by staying active during August, it makes it possible to observe Perseids and also some Delta Aquarids at the same time.
As of August 17, the moon will be in the new moon phase. In this way, the night sky will not be affected by the satellite and the meteors of the Delta Aquarids will be better seen.
What is the origin of the Perseids?
The radiant of the Perseids is in the constellation of Perseus. They are small grains of dust that disintegrate in the atmosphere, about 100 kilometers above the surface of the planet. In most cases, a shooting star completely disintegrates in the atmosphere. However, sometimes a small part of the fragment can reach the surface and become a meteorite.
Comet Swift-Tuttle, which takes 133 years to complete one revolution around the Sun, is the object responsible for the Perseids. Its last visit to the interior of the solar system was in 1992, the next will be in 2126. It has an approximate diameter of 26 kilometers and, in its orbit, it leaves a multitude of particles.
Most of the material in a comet’s orbit remains there for centuries. As a result, many of today’s shooting stars are particles that have long been in the orbit of Comet Swift Tuttle.
Follow the event live from sky-live.tv from the video that accompanies this news. The broadcast will be made, this time, from the Teide and Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (Canary Islands), on Wednesday at 23:15 UT (01:15 Spanish time, 00:15 in the Canary Islands).
