Washington: An annual celestial event, the Perseid meteor shower is all set to return on Wednesday night. It is predicted to peak before dawn on Thursday (August 12), although the display could do well before and after a night or two. At the same time, it is also believed that the conditions of this year are as good as possible.
The waxing crescent moon sets around 10 p.m. local time, which means darkness, moonless sky till dawn. Astronomy lovers can catch their best glimpse of the meteors soon after evening twilight ends. By then the shower’s radiance – its perspective point of origin in the constellation Perseus – has risen above the northeastern horizon.
Some of the Perseids that make it visible early will be spectacularly long “earth-climbers” that skim along the top of the atmosphere. The brighter it is, the more meteors you’ll see—so when Perseus climbs higher in the northeast, especially after midnight, more meteors will be visible across the sky.
No equipment needed to enjoy perseid meteor shower. All you have to do is find a dark spot away from bright lights with a wide-open view of the surroundings if possible. According to Sky & Telescope’s Observing Editor Diana Hanniken, comfort plays an important role in enjoying the show in the best possible way.
“You want to make yourself comfortable enough to fully enjoy the show—crashing your neck for several hours can ruin your experience,” Diana Hanniken said. Bring a reclining lawn chair or a ground cloth so you can lie back.
Tie in a blanket or sleeping bag for both protection and warmth from mosquitoes; Clear nights can be surprisingly chilly even in August. After this, relax, be patient and let your eyes adjust to the darkness.
“These ‘shooting stars’ can be visible anywhere and everywhere in the sky – you don’t have to look radiant to see them. So the best direction to look is where your sky is darkest, usually is straightforward,” added Diana Hanniken.
Faint Perseids appear as short, quick stripes. Can sometimes float in the bright sky for several seconds and release a brief train of glowing smoke. When you spot a meteor, find a way back to its original location. If you finally come Constellation Perseus (see accompanying sky chart), you have just seen a Perseid.
Sometimes you can spot an interloper. The weak Delta Aquariid and Kappa Cygnid showers are also active during the Perseid season, and there are always a few random, “sporadic” meteors. All of them come from other parts of the sky.
This is a fun exercise for tracing meteors back to their radiants: If the tracks don’t take you to Perseus, they’re not Perseid! Any light pollution or cloudiness would cut down on the number of meteors visible. But the brightest light shines through pollution (though usually not through clouds).
In fact, NASA analysis of celestial images taken from 2008 to 2013 shows that Perseids offer more bright meteors (those that outnumber any stars) than any other annual meteor shower.
As for meteorites, meteors are caused by tiny, grains of sand—pea-sized dusty debris about 80 miles (130 km) above the top of Earth’s atmosphere. Each Perseid zips at 37 miles per second, glowing as it burns with soot and creates a quick, white-hot streak of superheated air.
Nuggets in Grape Nuts grains are close in size, color, and texture to the approximate size, color, and texture of typical meteor-shower particles. The Perseid bits were shed long ago by comet Swift-Tuttle and are distributed around the Sun along the comet’s orbital path.
Earth passes through this weak “river of debris” every year in mid-August. The comet is so named because it was independently discovered by Lewis Swift and Horace Parnell Tuttle in July 1862.
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