It’s a time of a meteor shower tonight. You won’t need a telescope, Binoculars or a mountain to have a stargazing party!! You just need to step ;out pof your house in the middle of the night. Lie down in the backyard and enjoy the show. A meteor is a space rock that or a dust particle or fragments from a comets or asteroids that enter the earth’s atmosphere. As the space rock falls towards the Earth, the resistance of the air or rock makes it extremely hot. That what we see as a shooting star. The bright light emitting from it, is not actually the rock but the glowing hot air as the hot rock sparkle through the atmosphere.
When the Earth is encountered with many meteoroids then it is called as Meteor shower. Now the question arises that why this thing happens? The comets also revolves around the sun, .like the other planets like earth, mars etc. The orbit of the comet is usually lopsided. As the comet come closer to the sun, some of the icy stuff or surface boils off and release a lots of particles of dust and rocks. Then several times, each year when earth makes its journey around the sun, its orbit crosses the orbit of the cmet therefore Earth is bombarded with lots of meteoroids of the comet. Now let us see some interesting things and facts about a meteor shower.
15 Things You Need To know about Meteor Shower 12 August 2017
Meteoroids are almost always small dust particles which quickly burn up in the atmosphere, so there is a very little chance of them striking Earth’s surface. But people can see it like a beautiful shooting star in the middle of the night.
This year, the Perseid meteor shower is set to peak on the night of Saturday, August 12. You can get an excellent view on the nights of 11th and 12th August.
The Perseid meteor shower is the most beloved meteor shower of the year for the Northern Hemisphere.They are typically fast and bright meteors.
This year there are number of meteor showers have taken place in the month of January, April , May and July.
In January, 2017 the Quadrantids was seen in the in the Northern Hemisphere on January 3 and 4. Quadrantids can produce over 100 meteors per hour and tends to last only for few hours.
In April, 2017 the Lyrid meteor shower was seen as the April’s shooting stars which last about April 16 to 25. Whereas in late July the Delta Aquarid meteor shower was recorded in the Southern Hemisphere and tropical latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere.
Now in the month of August you can see the beautiful shower of Perseid meteor in the late evening, before the moonlight.
No matter where you live in the world, the 2017 Perseid meteor shower will probably produce numbers of meteors on the morning of August 11, 12 and 13.
Try and observe in the evening hours on the nights of August 10, 11 and 12 ;or watch it in the moonlight between the midnight and dawn.
A wide open area or a country road/ lonely field is the best place to enjoy a meteor shower. You are advised not to avoid city lights to observe the meteors.
You will be able to enjoy the speed and colors of the meteor in the meteor shower. Watch it with a group of friends, facing in different directions.
Meteors are also called as the shooting stars. But they have nothing to do with the actual stars. Perseid meteor shower peaks annually at this time of year adds our planet Earth passes through the orbital path of the comet swift tunnel.
There are more meteoroid showers yet to come this year in the month of October, November and December.
In the late October month the Orionids will be seen which exhibit a maximum of about 10 to 20 meteors per hour. It will be seen on the dark moonless night. Orionids meteor shower sometimes produce bright fireballs, so watch for them to flame in the sky.
Enjoy the beautiful Perseid meteor shower and don’t forget to see it on the nights of on the nights of August 10, 11 and 12.
