KIDWCKED
08-10-2010, 09:17 PM
c/p from the weather network.
Beverley Ann D'Cruz, staff writer
August 9, 2010 One of the years strongest meteor showers is set to peak midweek. Astronomer Andrew Yee from the Canadian Air and Space Museum shares some tips on how to enjoy the display.
All meteors will seem to emanate from one point
It's been described as one of the most spectacular celestial shows. And this year, star gazers will be clearing their calendars for the night of August 12 and the early morning hours of August 13 to bear witness to the Perseids meteor shower.
This shower is the result of debris left along the cosmic orbit of the Comet Swift-Tuttle as it moves through the solar system. When the particles enter the earth's atmosphere, they burn up and disintegrate, thus causing the meteors to streak across the sky.
So what can you expect?
According to Dr. Peter Brown, a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Western Ontario, it will be a fireworks-like display with meteors lighting up several parts of the sky.
It is a visual perspective effect and it is like all the meteors in the atmosphere are moving along parallel paths, says Dr. Brown. And as seen by an observer on the surface of the earth, all the meteors seem to emanate from one point in the sky. That point from where all the meteors seem to radiate from is called the radiant. This point lies in the constellation Perseus, from which the shower gets its name.
The meteors move at an incredible speed, which is almost 200 times faster than the speed of sound. Dr. Brown says the Perseids will increase in activity over a period of five days to a week centering around the peak that is scheduled during the night of August 12 and the early morning hours of August 13.
For many, this would mean that the largest number of meteors will be visible at around 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. on Friday morning.
You have to be able to see the sky and stars. So if there is high cloud or cloud of any sort that obscures the stars it will also obscure the meteors, advises Dr. Brown. Of course, you also need a dark site. You have to be somewhere away from city lights and it also has to be night time.
Beverley Ann D'Cruz, staff writer
August 9, 2010 One of the years strongest meteor showers is set to peak midweek. Astronomer Andrew Yee from the Canadian Air and Space Museum shares some tips on how to enjoy the display.
All meteors will seem to emanate from one point
It's been described as one of the most spectacular celestial shows. And this year, star gazers will be clearing their calendars for the night of August 12 and the early morning hours of August 13 to bear witness to the Perseids meteor shower.
This shower is the result of debris left along the cosmic orbit of the Comet Swift-Tuttle as it moves through the solar system. When the particles enter the earth's atmosphere, they burn up and disintegrate, thus causing the meteors to streak across the sky.
So what can you expect?
According to Dr. Peter Brown, a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Western Ontario, it will be a fireworks-like display with meteors lighting up several parts of the sky.
It is a visual perspective effect and it is like all the meteors in the atmosphere are moving along parallel paths, says Dr. Brown. And as seen by an observer on the surface of the earth, all the meteors seem to emanate from one point in the sky. That point from where all the meteors seem to radiate from is called the radiant. This point lies in the constellation Perseus, from which the shower gets its name.
The meteors move at an incredible speed, which is almost 200 times faster than the speed of sound. Dr. Brown says the Perseids will increase in activity over a period of five days to a week centering around the peak that is scheduled during the night of August 12 and the early morning hours of August 13.
For many, this would mean that the largest number of meteors will be visible at around 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. on Friday morning.
You have to be able to see the sky and stars. So if there is high cloud or cloud of any sort that obscures the stars it will also obscure the meteors, advises Dr. Brown. Of course, you also need a dark site. You have to be somewhere away from city lights and it also has to be night time.