The annual Perseid meteor shower will peak Saturday night (August 12), and skywatchers can catch the celestial event at its most energetic from the comfort of their homes.
the Virtual Telescope Project It will provide a view of the Perseids summit using the all-sky camera from its facility in Manciano, Italy. The remote area provides perfect dark skies for viewing the famous Perseid meteors.
We’ll cover Perseid meteor shower“This year, sky conditions will be good, with almost no lunar overlap. We will be taking pictures from our facility in Manciano, in the Maremma countryside, under one of the The darkest weather in Italy.
The free online livestream will begin at 9:30 PM EST on Saturday (01:30 GMT on Sunday), coinciding with the peak of the meteor shower. You can watch the live broadcast here on Space.com, courtesy of the Virtual Telescope Project, or directly on www.space.com WebTV page or YouTube channel.
Related: Meteor showers 2023: When is the next meteor shower?
The annual Perseid meteor shower is active between July 17 and August 24, according to Royal Museums Greenwich. The Perseid shower is often a highlight on the calendar of meteor hunters around the world because it can produce up to 100 meteors per hour and create bright fireballs and spectacular displays of shooting stars.
The display of meteors is called Perseids because the radiate – the point where the meteors seem to stream Land From – located in the constellation Perseus.
The origin of the Perseids is a cloud of debris left within Solar System By Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. The Earth gets locked in slivers of ice and rock every summer as it rotates the sun.
These fragments enter Earth’s atmosphere At speeds of up to 130,000 mph (209,000 kph), about 85 times the top speed of a jet plane! This compresses the air in front of the wreck and heats it to thousands of degrees. As a result, larger fragments of rock and ice explode as fireballs; Smaller pieces of 109P/Swift-Tuttle are gradually vaporized and leave a trail of light in their wake as they stream through the atmosphere.
If you’re hoping to catch a glimpse of the Perseids meteor shower for yourself, our guides to The best telescopes And binoculars Great place to start.
If you are looking to take pictures of meteors or meteors night sky In general, check out our guide on How to photograph a meteor showerAnd so do we The best cameras for astrophotography And The best lenses for astrophotography.
Editor’s note: If you took a photo of the Perseid meteor shower, and would like to share it with Space.com readers, send your photo(s), comments, name, and location to [email protected].
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