Bali – The Perseid meteor shower phenomenon occurs on August 12-13 2023. Today’s phenomenon is the peak of the meteor shower that occurs from July 14 to September 1 2023.
Meteor showers are events where meteors fall across the Earth in large quantities as if they were raining. Check out some facts about the Perseid meteor shower below.
Peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower
Quoted from Detik newsThe Perseid meteor shower originates from the comet Swift-Tuttle. This meteor shower reaches its peak on August 13, 2023.
As many as 100 meteors cross every hour during the peak night of the Perseid meteor shower. Hundreds of meteors appear to come from the constellation Perseus.
Observers can witness 50-75 Perseid meteors every hour in locations free of light pollution. The intensity of the Perseid meteors in Indonesia at its peak is 36-61 meteors per hour.
Time to Watch the Perseid Meteor Shower
The constellation Perseus rises at midnight starting at 00.16 WIB from the northeast. The crescent moon, which rises at around 03.30 WIB, does not interfere with hunting for this meteor shower.
The National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN) by the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) calls the Perseid meteor shower a major meteor shower.
How to See the Perseid Meteor Shower
This phenomenon is not dangerous so it can be observed directly. However, observations must be made in areas free of cloud cover or air pollution.
Not only that, sunny weather is also very helpful in witnessing the Perseid meteor shower. Furthermore, the field of view must also be free of obstructions.
Observers need an all sky camera placed towards the zenith (towards the top) to capture this meteor shower. The best places to see it are in the Northern Hemisphere.
In this region, shooting stars are visible across the sky and meteors radiate from a point in the constellation Perseus. So, the observer does not need to look in a certain direction.
Harmless Meteor Shower
According to the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, comet Swift-Tuttle’s trajectory or orbit can be very close to Earth, but will not crash into it.
Swift-Tuttle’s orbit that passes Earth at 3044 brings it within a million miles of our planet. That’s more than twice the distance from Earth to the Moon.
The Earthsky page says that this phenomenon when meteors hit Earth is very rare in history. This is mainly due to the sheer nature of comet debris itself.
Most of the Perseids are very small, about the size of a grain of sand. Almost no fragments reach Earth, because they will be crushed by the Earth’s atmosphere.
Watch Video “Astronomers Find the Farthest Star, Formed in Nearly 13 Billion Years”
(irb/hsa)
2023-08-13 09:30:09
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