Today, Friday, the Earth is witnessing the Ursa Minor meteor shower. The Ursids are considered light meteor showers, with the number of meteors in them reaching about 10 meteors per hour. These meteors are produced by dusty debris scattered along the orbit of comet Tuttle. Which was discovered in 1790.
The Ursa Minor meteors fall as if they were coming from the Ursa Minor constellation (near the Pole Star), which is the reason for their name. The annual timing of this shower is from December 17 to 25 of each year, and it reaches its peak on the night of the 21st and the dawn of the 22nd of December.
Meteor showers are generally visible with the naked eye and do not require binoculars or astronomical telescopes, provided that they are far from city lighting and the sky is free of clouds, dust, and water vapor. There are no dangers to humans from meteor showers, as they enter the atmosphere and burn in it at an altitude of more than 70 kilometers from the surface of the Earth. The gibbous moonlight will obscure the view of some faint meteors this year.
Dr. Ashraf Tadros, professor of astronomy at the National Institute for Astronomical Research, confirmed that the best places to watch astronomical phenomena in general are far from light pollution, such as coasts, fields, deserts, prairies, and mountains.
Tadros pointed out that there is no relationship between the movement of celestial bodies and the fate of man on earth, as this is not related to astronomy in any way, but rather from astrology, and astrology is among the false matters related to divination and the occult, such as reading palms and cups, hitting the farewell, opening the playing cards, and so on.
He stressed that astronomical phenomena are fun to watch and amateurs love to follow and photograph them, provided that the weather is clear and the sky is free of clouds, dust, and water vapor. He pointed out that night phenomena do not have any harm to human health or daily activity on Earth, while daytime phenomena related to the sun may be dangerous to the human eye. Because looking at the sun with the naked eye generally harms the eye a lot.
