What is the Perseid meteor shower? How often does it happen? What else can you see?
Meteor Shower
Every year, from about July 17 to August 24,Earth crosses the orbital path of Comet Swift-Tuttle, the progenitor of the Perseids meteor shower. Debris from this comet litters the comet's orbit, but we cannot see the bulk of this comet's debris until the first week of August. Parts of Comet Swift-Tuttle crash into Earth's upper atmosphere at a speed of about 210,000 km per hour, illuminating the night with fast Perseids meteors.
If our planet passes through an unusually dense group of meteorites - a comet stone, we will see even more meteors.
Comet Swift-Tuttle has a very eccentrican oblong orbit that takes this comet outside Pluto's orbit when it is farthest from the Sun, and inside Earth's orbit when it is about 133 years old. Each time this comet passes through the inner solar system, the sun heats up and softens the ice in the comet, causing it to release fresh cometary material into its orbital stream.
Comet Swift-Tuttle last reached perihelion — the closest point to the Sun — in December 1992, and the next time it will bein July 2126.
Despite the long orbital period and rare perihelion, we see the Perseids every year when the Earth crosses the comet's orbit, and the debris left by Swift-Tuttle enter our atmosphere.
When to watch the Perseids? Where and how to observe a meteor shower correctly?
No matter where you live all over the world,The 2020 Perseid meteor shower is likely to produce the most meteors on the mornings of August 11, 12 and 13. It will be most active and noticeable on the night of August 12-13. And the peak of its power will be at about 03:00, that is, before dawn.
During the peak passage of the Perseids in 2020The moon will be in the last quarter stage or a little later. This means moonlight will spoil the view somewhat this year. But the Perseids tend to be bright, and a good percentage of them should be able to overcome moonlight. It is impossible to predict exactly what we will see. But there is a chance to see up to 40-50 meteors (flashes in the sky) per hour at the peak of the shower.
Visit the Sunrise Sunset Calendars website to find out when the Moon is setting in your sky, remembering to check the Moonrise checkbox.
People tend to focus on the morning.meteor showers, and this is perfectly appropriate. Perseids meteors sweep across our skies from about July 17th. We will see the Perseids for about 10 days after the peak mornings of August 11, 12 and 13, albeit in significantly smaller numbers. However, every day the moon wanes in the morning sky, there will be less moonlight on the Perseids. Starting approximately on August 17, the moonless sky will reign all night long.
In a typical year, although the number of meteors increases after midnight, the Perseid meteors still beginfly mid to late afternoon from northern latitudes.At the equator, they envelop the sky around midnight.Offer a touched meteor — huge, slow, colorful, flying horizontally across the evening sky.A touching meteor is a meteoroid that has passed through the Earth's atmosphere and then continued its movement through space.Such meteors are rare, but memorable.
Where does the Perseid meteor shower begin?
If you trace the Perseid meteors in reversedirection, then they all fly from the constellation Perseus. However, this is an accidental alignment of the meteor shower beam with its constellation Perseus. The stars are light-years away, while these meteors burn about 100 km above the Earth's surface. If any meteor survives its fiery fall to strike the earth intact, the remainder is called a meteorite. However, only a few meteorites in meteor showers become meteorites due to the inconclusive nature of cometary debris. Most are asteroid remnants.
What's the best way to observe the Perseid meteor shower? General rules
No special equipment or knowledge of constellations is required.Find a dark, open sky to enjoy the view of the meteor shower.Open skies are necessary because these meteors fly across the sky in many different directions and in front of numerous constellations.
Give yourself at least an hour of observation time,because the meteors in the streams come in bursts. Remember that it can take up to 20 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the darkness of the night. So don't rush the process.
If you trace the paths of the Perseid meteors in the opposite direction, you'll find that they all come fromfrom a point on the celestial dome, from the constellation Perseus.With the help of various applications, you can find the constellation in the sky.Tentatively, you need to look to the northeast.
Remember meteors are part of nature. It is impossible to predict exactly how much you will see on any given evening. Find a good place, look, wait.
How to take a photo of the Perseids?
When photographing meteorites, be sure to use a tripod. Do not shoot handheld - you need long exposures for photography and hand shake, which will inevitably ruin the image.
Optimal use of wide-angle lenseswith a focal length of 18 mm, but you can start with 30 mm lenses. These are the lenses found in ordinary phones. For example, the iPhone 6 camera has a 29mm focal length, while the Samsung Galaxy S5 has a 31mm focal length.
When setting a shutter speed, keep in mind the aperture of your lens and the fact that you are not shooting a moving subject, but it is the movement of that subject that is attractive for photographing.
Use a sensitivity (ISO) value of 1600 or less.
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