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If you can’t get out there and enjoy the annual Perseid meteor shower at its peak this week, or want to learn more about the science of shooting stars, there are plenty of webcasts to tell you more.
The Perseids occur annually in August and are expected to peak this year between August 11 and August 13 (Wednesday through Friday), with the best viewing times between midnight and dawn on Thursday (August 12), according to The NASA.
The Earth flows through the flow of Comet Swift-Tuttle just as a crescent moon lights the sky. Just days after the new moon, arriving on Sunday (August 8), the absence of shining moonlight in the night sky will provide almost ideal conditions to catch these cometary crumbs as they crash into our atmosphere, making it glow. the fragments dramatically. as “shooting stars”.
Related: Perseid meteor shower 2021: when, where and how to see it
Below is a selection of live webcasts where you can watch the Perseid meteor shower online this week, with views from telescopes from NASA and others around the world.
The virtual telescope project
August 11 at 8 p.m. EDT (0000 August 12 GMT)
The Virtual Telescope Project, which is based near Rome, Italy, will broadcast a live stream starting at 8 p.m. EDT Wednesday (0000 or midnight GMT Thursday). “We will be broadcasting the meteor shower live, online, for free,” the website said on its event page. “We will share the view of our wide-field cameras, to show any potential meteors they capture.”
McDonald Observatory
Aug 11 at 10:45 p.m. – 11:45 p.m. EDT (0245-0345 Aug 12 GMT)
The University of Texas at the Austin McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis, TX is planning a short live broadcast between 10:45 p.m. EDT and 11:45 p.m. EDT Wednesday (2:45 a.m. and 3:45 a.m. GMT Thursday.) “In addition to the live views, we discuss the origins of meteor showers, their relationship to comets and more, ”the event’s YouTube page said. “Live chat moderators will answer questions and the host will take more at the end.”
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Starts: Aug 11 at 11 p.m. EDT (0300 Aug 12 GMT)
End: August 12 at 6:00 a.m. EDT (3:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. GMT)
The Meteoroid Environment Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., Will broadcast live views of the Perseids from its sky-viewing cameras between 11 p.m. EDT Wednesday and 6 a.m. EDT Thursday (0400-1000 GMT Thursday) .
The center said viewers have a choice of going or staying online throughout the show. “Stick around or come back when you can,” NASA officials wrote on the event’s Facebook page. “If the sky is cloudy, we will reschedule for the night of August 12th.”
Once the webcast is available, you can watch it live here in the window above, courtesy of NASA. You can also log in through NASA Marshall’s Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages. (In the meantime, you can watch this new video of the first Perseid meteors captured by NASA’s All-sky Fireball Network.)
Lowell Observatory
August 12 at 12:01 a.m. EDT (0400-0500 GMT)
The Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona – the place where Pluto was famously discovered – will launch a live broadcast at 12:00 p.m. EDT Thursday (05:00 GMT) to track down meteors as the sky darkens. Research assistant Megan Gialluca will host the live broadcast.
“We will be using the Lowell Discovery Telescope’s All-Sky camera to hunt meteors together,” the observatory said on the live broadcast page. “After that, you’ll be ready to find more on your own, when the meteor showers peak in the hours before dawn.”
Copernicus Observatory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AfmZ1imCgw
August 12 at 9:30 p.m. EDT (0130 August 13 GMT)
The Kopernik Observatory in Vestal, New York (just outside of Binghamton) is scheduled for a virtual viewing session starting at 9:30 p.m. EDT Thursday (1:30 a.m. GMT Friday). “Our live astronomer, Jeremy Cartie, will be available for comments and questions,” officials said on the YouTube page, adding, “with the recent new moon, the only thing stopping us from having a great show is weather”.
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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