One of, if not the best, meteor showers of the year is upon us. The Perseid meteor shower happens every summer, but this year is extra special for a few reasons.
Let's zoom to the science behind the Perseids.
A meteor is a piece of space rock or debris that enters Earth's atmosphere; when the meteor falls towards the ground, there is so much resistance and drag from the atmosphere that it burns up. When you see a shooting star, the bright light is just the glowing hot air around the rock as it falls to the ground, extremely fast. They travel around 37 miles per second, more than 133,000 miles per hour.
The reason we get meteor showers is because of comets. Comets are big space rocks that revolve around the sun, just like Earth. When comets get closer to the sun, they warm up and cause the icy surface to boil off, which releases a lot of dust and rock particles behind it. The debris gets spread out along the comet's path, creating a long river of particles that follows the comet's orbit.
Any time the Earth's orbit crosses the orbit of a comet, Earth smacks into a bunch of comet debris and we see a meteor shower! So, every August, we run into the comet Swift-Tuttle's debris, which brings us the Perseid meteor shower. The closest the comet got to Earth was 1992, and with a 133-year orbit, we won't see it again until 2126, so tell your great-grandchildren to set their calendars!
The Perseids are one of the oldest recorded meteor showers, with observations dating back over 2,000 years. It's one of the most active showers of the year, typically seeing between 50-100 meteors per hour.
This year will be the best display since 2018 thanks to the new moon creating very dark skies. Most meteors are the size of a grain of sand or rice, but golf ball-sized meteors can produce what's known as fireballs as they burn up in the atmosphere. A fireball is just an extra bright meteor (about as bright as Venus), and the Perseid meteor shower is one of the biggest producers of these fireballs.
The Perseids peak the night of Aug. 12 into the morning of Aug. 13. But if you want to get out any night this week or even next weekend, with clear skies, you should still be able to see several meteors per hour.
Hence then, the article about upcoming perseid meteor shower will be more visible thanks to a new moon was published today ( ) and is available on CBS sacramento ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Upcoming Perseid meteor shower will be more visible thanks to a new moon )
Also on site :
- Hang Elon Musk Around Susan Collins’s Neck
- This nuclear startup and Halliburton repurposed oil-drilling tech in a bid to solve America’s radioactive waste problem
- Quote Of The Day By Tom Hanks: Being Kind Is Just Being Open To A Possibility Of Making A Simple Choice That...