“The frequency of meteors is gradually rising, and during the night, when the swarm is at its peak, we will see up to 80 meteors per hour in the moonless sky outside the city, especially between midnight and four o’clock in the morning,” Horálek said. According to him, up to twenty of them can be really clear.
“Conditions are ideal this year, the moon in the sky will be in the phase of a narrow crescent, which at night, when the swarm culminates, sets in the evening and will not be disturbed by its light. It will therefore be possible to see even the weakest meteors. But it is necessary to be tens to hundreds of kilometers away from large cities to observe them, “the astronomer pointed out.
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In the second half of the night, the constellation Perseus, from where the meteors seem to fly, climbs almost to the headboard. Therefore, most meteors glow over the horizon. Although perseids are active until August 24, Horálek warned that after a night their maximum decreases significantly. So it’s best to make time next week from Thursday to Friday.
The first mention of this meteor swarm comes from the third century. People noticed them then shortly after the martyrdom of St. Lawrence. That is why they are sometimes nicknamed the Tears of St. Lawrence.
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“The Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli proved that this is an astronomical phenomenon in the second half of the 19th century. He was the first in the world to find a direct connection between meteors and comets and even determined that the origin of Perseid is dust from the periodic comet 109P Swift-Tuttle, discovered by two American astronomers in 1862, “said Horálek. The comet last approached the Sun in 1992, and will not do so again until 2126.
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Also this year, on the night of the swarm, a joint annotated observation of Perseid takes place in the area of the observatory in Ondřejov, Central Bohemia. The Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic organizes it on the local “radar” meadow. According to the organizers, people should come before dark on August 12, so that they do not disturb the other participants with the light.
The observation of the sky is also on Thursday, August 12, between 9:00 pm and 11:00 pm in the Štefánik Observatory on Prague’s Petřín Hill. Just after the maximum, on Saturday 14 August, the traditional Day and Night event takes place in Jizerka, which will also include a view of the night sky.
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