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Each year our skies are illuminated by repeated meteor showers, from the Geminids and Draconids to the Perseids and Leonids.
During the summer months, a full program of meteor showers will be visible in the sky, with the Perseid rain occurring between July and August.
If the weather conditions are favorable and the moon is not too bright, it is possible to see spectacular shooting stars.
But when, where and how to see the meteor showers of 2021? We’ve compiled a comprehensive guide below.
What exactly is a meteor shower?
A meteor shower occurs when the Earth passes through the flow of debris occupying the orbit of a comet or, in simpler terms, when a number of meteors cross the sky at roughly the same point.
Meteors are sometimes referred to as shooting stars, although they actually have nothing to do with the stars.
The prospect makes the meteor showers appear to emanate from a single point in the sky known as a radiant shower. The typical meteor results from a particle – the size of a grain of sand – vaporizing in Earth’s atmosphere as it enters at 134,000 mph.
Anything larger than a grape will produce a fireball, which is often accompanied by a lingering afterglow known as a meteor train. This is a column of ionized gas that slowly fades away as it loses energy.
Meteor, meteoroid or meteorite?
A meteor is a meteoroid – or a particle detached from an asteroid or comet orbiting the Sun – that burns as it enters Earth’s atmosphere, creating a “shooting star”.
Meteorites that reach the Earth’s surface without decaying are called meteorites.
Meteors are mostly pieces of comet dust and ice no larger than a grain of rice. Meteorites are mostly rocks broken by asteroids in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and weigh up to 60 tons.
They can be “stony”, made up of minerals rich in silicon and oxygen, “iron”, made up mainly of iron and nickel, or “iron-stone”, a combination of the two.
Scientists believe that around 1,000 to over 10,000 tonnes of material from meteors fall to Earth each day, but these are mostly dust-like grains, according to NASA, and pose no threat to the Earth. Earth.
There are only two recorded incidents of an injury caused by a meteorite. One of those cases saw a woman bruised by a meteorite, weighing eight pounds, after she fell through her roof in 1954.
Meteor shower dates for 2021
Perseid meteor shower
Running from July 17 to August 24 and peaking from August 12 to 13, the Perseid meteor shower allows astronomers to observe around 160 to 200 meteors entering Earth’s atmosphere every hour. The shower is especially important in the northern hemisphere, before dawn, and is one of the most popular showers, because if it was not the strongest, its spectators can enjoy it during the summer.
At its peak, the Perseids glisten in the summer sky, when Earth collides with debris particles left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle.
This year, the Moon will only be 13% full and is expected to set when meteors begin to appear. Therefore, you will likely see around 50 to 75 meteors per hour on its optimum night.
The shower takes its name from the Greek word Perseidai, which means the sons of Perseus in Greek mythology, which refers to the point where they appear to hail.
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