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Perseid Meteor Shower is Visible

August 12, 2007 on 2:27 pm | In Asteroids & Meteors, Astronomy |

The Perseid Meteor shower will be visible through out the world this weekend. A new moon will aid star gazers as the sky will be very dark and shooting stars and meteors will be easier to spot.

When the Earth moves through space it often intersects with some dirt, and as the dirt cloud burns up in the Earth’s atmosphere, we get a beautiful flash of light - in this case the Perseid Meteor Shower The meteor shower will be easiest to see away from cities. This eliminates the possibility of light pollution. Under perfect conditions it is possible to see up to one meteor per minute.

Although these meteors appear to radiate from the star Perseus (thus their name) they can be seen anywhere. The Perseids are the most reliable of the meteor showers. Although you could see up to about 80 an hour about 60 an hour is more realistic. They are distinctive meteor showers and they move quite quickly with a flash of light. They are quite spectacular with long contrails. Occasionally you get a trail that carries on glowing for more than a minute.

The Perseid Meteor Shower is made up of dusty debris shed by Comet Swift-Tuttle, first discovered in 1862. Each year the Earth’s ploughs through the meteors, which burn up as they shoot through the upper atmosphere at more than 130,000 mph. Chinese has records of the Perseids which date back to 36AD.