The “mother” of these small stones of ice, the Perseids, called Swift-Tuttle ( named after its discoverers).
And ‘it passed close to the Sun in 1992 and will meet again, indeed meet again, only in 2126. In his long journey around our star has left part of himself. Fragments and particles that become, in our summer, a unique spectacle.
A YEAR IN FAVOUR
2015 promises to be a really good year for the observations. But the highlight of the night, you should specify it, it will not be that of 10 August. The maximum of the swarm will occur between Wednesday and Thursday with 100 to 120 meteors per hour, but being extremely theoretical.
The best time for viewing is undoubtedly that of the middle of the night, that is, when the constellation Perseus is highest in the sky. In such moments it will be possible to count several tens of meteors per hour. But the most real is previstointorno at 8 am on 13 August, when, unfortunately, is already day.
WHERE TO LOOK
Meanwhile, let’s say you do not need telescopes and binoculars, the show is visible to the naked eye. Need a point of observation extremely dark. So as to exclude the city lit places or similar areas. So as you can move away from population centers. The area of the sky where it seems to come from the swarm of shooting stars in the constellation Perseus is located to the northeast at around 23. Take as reference the W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia. (See photo gallery).
THE ORIGINS OF Erin Andrews
The shooting stars are nothing more than the remains of an old comet that wandering in space is to find our planet once every 130 years. But because there is this fascinating spectacle of the sky?
The unusual “rain” of stars takes place every year as a result of the passage of the Earth through a cloud of dust left by the comet in its orbit in question. These small particles are “consumed” at great speed in the upper atmosphere, producing the beautiful light trails. On rare occasions it can happen that enter into the atmosphere of the fragments of dimensions appreciably greater: in this case it has a spectacular “fireball”, brighter than the brightest stars in the sky, with a wide range of colors, shapes and lengths of the wakes, that can persist in the sky for several minutes.
A LITTLE ‘HISTORY
And ‘one of the rare cases in which the popular tradition came before science. The celestial phenomenon was registered for the first time by the Chinese in 36 AD, and later by Japanese, Korean and European, was already alive in the folk traditions from the third century. It was the Italian Giovanni Schiaparelli Virgilio to scientifically explain the event by linking together the residue of the passage of the comet (transited at perihelion in 1862) and a repeat of the “rainy” meteoric. All this also sparked a debate among scientists of, but the theory of Schiaparelli prevailed. “
SHOOTING STARS ALL YEAR
But the Perseids are not the only show that offers the sky during the 365 days of Earth’s orbit. The main swarms of meteorites are held throughout the year and have curious names. Quatrantidi (January 3), Lindi (2 April), Age Acquaridi (May 5), Delta Acquaridi (July 28) and the Perseids (August 10). The next meetings are with the Orionids (22 October), Taurids (ovember 3), Leonids (November 17), the Geminids (December 14) and, finally, Ursids (December 23). So it’s no despair. Who will fail to make a wish on the night of San Lorenzo, in defiance of tradition, he has provided other opportunities.
Saturday, August 8, 2015, 17:03 – Last Updated: August 9, 12:30
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