Mark your calendar: As many as 200 meteors per hour might be visible in the sky!
With next week fast approaching, mark the dates of the 11th and 12th of August in your calendar as the famous Perseid Meteor Shower will bring a cosmic display of shooting stars that will light up the night sky.
The Perseids shower occurs every year in August as Earth travels through the debris left by the ancient comet, and this year we might have a closer encounter with the comet trails, which should result in a breathtaking meteor shower display next week.
“Forecasters are predicting a Perseid outburst this year with double normal rates on the night of Aug. 11-12,” said Bill Cooke with NASA’s Meteoroid Environments Office in Huntsville, Alabama, in a media release. “Under perfect conditions, rates could soar to 200 meteors per hour.”
How to watch the spectacular display:
The best would be to go outside around midnight and dawn on the 12th of August. Allow your eyes to adjust to the darkness outside, and then lie down on your back and look straight up at the sky.
Here are some additional viewing tips as shared by Rhiannon Blaauw of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office:
“Here’s something to think about. The meteors you’ll see this year are from comet flybys that occurred hundreds if not thousands of years ago,” said Cooke. “And they’ve traveled billions of miles before their kamikaze run into Earth’s atmosphere.”
For those of you who will have difficulties viewing the meteor showers due to light pollution in your area, you can follow a live stream hosted on Ustream.tv, which will broadcast the event starting on the 11th of August. Increased meteor showers might also be visible on 12-13th of August.
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