One of the year’s most “dramatic” meteor showers kicks off tonight and offers stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere the chance to see dozens of extremely fast and bright meteors.
If you’re having trouble sleeping in the heat this weekend – May reach 32 ° C on Sunday – Entertain yourself with the fact that you can catch a glimpse of the stunning Perseid (per-see-id) shower.
The exhibition starts on July 16 and gets more intense until August 12 and then decreases again around August 23.
Even though any meteors are mostly no bigger than a grain of sand, they still create a visible streak of light in the sky as they burn up at about 130,000 miles per hour as they hit the atmosphere.
Digital composite of 50 Perseid meteor shower photos
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Produced annually as the earth breaks through the dusty debris left by Comet Swift-Tuttle, they can reach extremely hot temperatures between 1,648 °C (2,998.4 °F) and 5,537 °C (9,998.6 °F).
Royal Museums Greenwich (RMG) memiliki compiled manual for those who wish to take part in stargazing, with a time of “one of the most dramatic things to see in the night sky”, perfect for teenagers who may be allowed to stay up late, as is the case during their summer vacation.
Some of the top tips are:
- Keep your eyes off your phone – if you give your eyes time to get used to the darkness, you may catch a glimpse of some of the weaker meteors.
- Don’t rely on binoculars – they limit the size of the sky you can see, as do telescopes.
RMG described the Perseid showers – named after the meteor apparently shooting the mythical Greek hero from the constellation Perseus – as “one of the best meteor showers of the year”.
According to NASA, the Perseids are one of the most visible meteor showers for humans, with 50-100 meteors per hour.
They are also known for their fireballs – larger bursts of light and color that can last longer than the average meteorite.
NASA explains, “That’s because the fireballs originate from larger particles of cometary material.”
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