The Persian meteor shower will be best seen on August 13 with a snowstorm



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The maximum number of Persians will also occur this year from August 12 to 13, but the observation may partially disrupt the month which, at that time, will be filled a few days before. However, after sunset, around 3 pm, conditions will improve.

Astronomer Juraj Tóth, deputy dean of the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science at Comenius University (UK) in Bratislava, told TASR. "So, if someone stands until those hours late at night or early in the morning, the moment before braking will be ideal for meteor observation," Toth said.

In fact, peroxides are small particles of dust from comet 109P / Swift-Tuttle, discovered in 1862. The cloud Oort, located at the boundary of the solar system. Of a size of ten kilometers, it is a giant of its category and its orbital time is 133 years old. It was last found near the Sun or the Earth in 1992, and should return again in 2126. Comet particles, usually smaller than grains of sand, are found along its length. elliptical orbit.

When the Earth finds its orbits in the region where it passes through the orbit of the comet, the particles enter the atmosphere at a relatively high speed of 59 km / s. In doing so, they heat to a temperature above 1600 degrees and burn rapidly between 80 and 120 kilometers above the ground.

It is this phenomenon of light that is called the meteor, while the particle that causes it is a meteoroid according to scientific terminology. If the particle does not burn in the atmosphere but hits the ground, it is a meteorite. And the extremely bright and radiant meteors often leaving a trail of smoke are called racing cars.

The meteorite rainfall rate then depends on where the Earth intersects the area where the particles of the comet are. That is, the density of the particle flow at a given location.

"Persesids have a constant propagation rate of 100 to 120 meteors per hour under ideal conditions, which means that a normal observer can see them between 50 and 60 years of age. However, there are years when the frequency of meteors can be doubled 200 per hour and for a normal observer of about 100. This extraordinary frequency of Persians was last seen in 2016. However, this extraordinary activity does not occur. Is not expected this year, "explained Tóth.

The particles are monitored by cameras that constantly capture the night sky. According to Toth, the meteor orbits tell us what was the orbit of the Swift-Tuttle comet when it was producing these particles – the last time it passed through the perihelion, the region closest to the Sun.

The activity of meteor swarms is captured, for example, by cameras from the AMOS observation system, created at the Astronomical and Geophysical Observatory (AGO) in the UK, near Modra. "Our system is special because it has cameras all over the world. Five cameras are located in Slovakia, two in the Canary Islands, two in the Atacama Desert in Chile and two in the Hawaiian Islands.

We will install three cameras in Australia and three more in Namibia, which will cover the entire world, including the skies of the south and the north, "TASR Dušan Kalmančok of AGO Modra told TASR. Tóth and Kalmančok are among the authors of the AMOS system. However, visual observation is also of scientific importance, as meteors are tracked by experienced observers across the planet and compared to observations year after year.

The meteor shower has been called the Persian because the radiation whose meteors seem to fly is in the region of the Perseus constellation, which rises late in the evening on the northeast horizon. They are also called the Tears of St. Lawrence after the saint's fire on August 10, 258 in Rome.

Scientists say that brighter meteors will be visible despite the moonlight. Light pollution is also a decisive factor – it is better to observe meteors outside areas lit by the public. According to the forecasts of the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute, the weather conditions should be low, therefore favorable. In addition, extremely bright cars are present among the Persians.

Unlike other meteor swarms, the maximum of which is of very short duration, the region of the comet 109P / Swift-Tuttle bodies flies long enough across the Earth. This is why Persian activity has been observed over a longer period, from the end of July to the end of August. And even on weekend nights, there is a great chance of observing the "shooting stars".

Source: TASR

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