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Perseids meteor shower returns to Australian skies
Perseids meteor shower returns to Australian skies

The Australian

time4 days ago

  • Science
  • The Australian

Perseids meteor shower returns to Australian skies

One of the most famous and active celestial events of the year will begin streaking across the Australian night sky from Thursday, but sky watchers may find this year's display underwhelming with a near-full moon expected to outshine the fainter meteors. Dubbed 'the best meteor shower of the year' by experts, the Perseids are one of the busiest showers with about 50 to 100 meteors seen per hour, according to NASA. The event produces fast, bright streaks and occasional fireballs, larger bursts of light caused by bigger chunks of space debris burning up in Earth's atmosphere. While best viewed from the northern hemisphere, Australian sky watchers in the Top End will be able to catch a glimpse of the famous display. Picture:. The meteors come from debris left behind by comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, which last passed through the inner solar system in 1992 and is almost twice the size of the asteroid believed to have wiped the dinosaurs from Earth. As Earth moves through this trail of dust and rock each year, the particles slam into our atmosphere at high speeds, creating the familiar flashes of light in the night sky. NASA says the Perseids are best viewed in the pre-dawn hours, when the sky is darkest and the shower's radiant point, the constellation Perseus, is higher above the horizon, but they can sometimes be seen from about 10pm. The meteor shower is known for occasional fireballs with up to 100 meteors seen per hour. Picture: Supplied. But there's a catch for Aussie viewers: The best views are in the Northern Hemisphere. Only those in the far north of Australia may catch a glimpse of the brighter meteors, and even then, the brightness of the moon will reduce visibility significantly. Those in southern Australia will likely miss out altogether. The shower runs from July 17 to August 23, with peak activity expected about August 12. Amelia Swan Journalist Amelia Swan joined News Corp as a cadet reporter in 2024. Amelia Swan

The Perseids Meteor Shower Brings Bright Fireballs to the Skies, Starting This Week
The Perseids Meteor Shower Brings Bright Fireballs to the Skies, Starting This Week

CNET

time5 days ago

  • Science
  • CNET

The Perseids Meteor Shower Brings Bright Fireballs to the Skies, Starting This Week

Skygazers have a lot to look forward to over the next month. A couple of dueling meteor showers are gracing the skies later in July, and they will be joined by perhaps the most popular meteor shower of the year. Perseids are known for their bright fireballs and plentiful meteors. The show starts on July 17 and will run through Aug. 23. The reason the Perseids meteor shower is so popular is twofold. First, it takes place in the summer, so going outside and watching it is less uncomfortable than other large meteor showers like Quadrantids, which takes place in wintery January. The other reason is that it's one of the most active meteor showers of the year. During its peak, the meteor shower is known to spit as many as 100 meteors on average, according to the American Meteor Society. These not only include your typical shooting stars, but also a higher chance for fireballs, which are meteors that explode as they enter orbit. Per NASA, fireballs tend to last longer than standard shooting stars and can come in a variety of different colors. Perseids come to Earth courtesy of the 109P/Swift-Tuttle comet. Earth's orbit around the sun brings it through Swift-Tuttle's tail every year. The comet itself takes 133 years to orbit the sun. Its last perihelion -- the point at which it's the closest to the sun -- was in 1992. It won't be back until the year 2125. Until then, it leaves behind an excellent tail of dust and debris to feed us yearly meteor showers. How to watch the Perseids meteor shower The best time to view the Perseids is during its peak, which occurs on the evenings of Aug. 12 and 13. During this time, the shower will produce anywhere from 25 to 100 meteors per hour on average. However, since the shower officially lasts for over a month, you have a chance to see a shooting star on any given evening, provided that you are far enough away from light pollution. Thus, if you're planning on watching this year's Perseids during their peak, you'll want to get out of the city and suburbs as much as possible. According to Bill Cooke, lead of NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office, folks in the city might see one or two meteors from the meteor shower per hour, which is pocket change compared to what folks outside city limits might see. Regardless, once you've arrived at wherever you want to watch the meteors, you'll want to direct your attention to the radiant, or the point at which the meteors will appear to originate. Like all meteors, Perseids are named after the constellation from which they appear. In this case, it's Perseus. Per Stellarium's free sky map, Perseus will rise from the northeastern horizon across the continental US on the evenings of Aug. 12 and 13. It'll then rise into the eastern sky, where it'll remain until after sunrise. So, in short, point yourself due east and you should be OK. Binoculars may help, but we recommend against telescopes since they'll restrict your view of the sky to a very small portion, which may hinder your meteor-sighting efforts. The American Meteor Society also notes that the moon may give viewers some difficulty. Perseids' peak occurs just three days after August's full moon, so the moon will still be mostly full. Thus, it is highly probable that light pollution from the moon may reduce the number of visible meteors by a hefty margin, depending on how things go.

What to know about the Perseids and when to view the 2025 meteor shower
What to know about the Perseids and when to view the 2025 meteor shower

CBS News

time5 days ago

  • Science
  • CBS News

What to know about the Perseids and when to view the 2025 meteor shower

The Perseids meteor shower begins this week and is expected to offer one of the best shows in the sky of 2025. The event is considered the best meteor shower of the year, according to NASA, and is also the most popular. The shower begins on Thursday, July 17, and will continue for several weeks, until at least Aug. 23, according to NASA and the American Meteor Society, a nonprofit organization. The meteor shower is expected to peak from Aug. 12-13, although moonlight will impact meteor visibility. The moon will be 84% full during the peak. NASA says the best time to view the Perseids is early in the morning, before dawn, in the Northern Hemisphere. Sometimes, however, the meteors can be seen at night as early as 10 p.m. "The Perseids are one of the most plentiful showers with about 50 to 100 meteors seen per hour," NASA says. "They occur with warm summer nighttime weather allowing sky watchers to comfortably view them." Perseids often leave long "wakes" of color and light when they move through Earth's atmosphere. NASA notes they are also known for their fireballs. "Fireballs are larger explosions of light and color that can persist longer than an average meteor streak," the space agency says. "This is due to the fact that fireballs originate from larger particles of cometary material. Fireballs are also brighter." The meteor shower occurs when Earth passes through an area of space debris left by a comet coming around the sun. Debris interacts with Earth's atmosphere and disintegrates, resulting in colorful lines in the sky, according to NASA and the American Meteor Society. "The pieces of space debris that interact with our atmosphere to create the Perseids originate from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle," which last visited the inner solar system in 1992, NASA says. Swift-Tuttle takes 133 years to orbit the sun, NASA said, and in 1865, Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli became the first person to determine this comet was the source of the Perseids. When looking at the Perseids, they appear to come from the constellation Perseus, which is why this meteor shower has its name. But as NASA explains, the meteors don't actually originate from the constellation.

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