Didn’t see the big meteor that lit up sky night to 25. July? Then you get a new opportunity tonight, but this time there is something a little different that will light up the sky.
Tonight – and several nights ahead – starburst swarms will light up the sky.
– After 23 o’clock tonight is a good time to see the shooting star heat, then they have the greatest speed towards us, and you see them better, says Tor Aslesen in the Norwegian meteor network to Dagbladet.
Here you will find the meteorites
Perseidene
The Perseids, as it is also called, are a meteor swarm that occurs in July and August each year, according to Large Norwegian encyclopedia. It is one of the most active meteor swarms during the year and lasts around 20 days. The meteor shower reaches a maximum on 12 August, when the meteor frequency is around 50 meteors per hour, and you can therefore see it clearly tonight.
– The perseids are particularly fast, so they burn up in the atmosphere, so we see it as short glimpses, says Aslesen and explains further:
– It is mostly smaller stones of a few grams that light up due to the great speed into the atmosphere, which become short small shooting stars. They actually shine very brightly, but we are several hundred kilometers away, so they do not shine as brightly for us, he says.
Aslesen says that what happens is that the earth’s orbit hits the remains of a comet that travels around the sun.
– The comet leaves things behind, so when the earth hits this, it turns into shooting stars. The earth hits this at the same time every year, because the earth goes in the same orbit every year, he says.
– Can keep the meteorite itself
Not the same
Aslesen says that there is a difference between the former the meteor that was seen and heard over Eastern Norway, and the shooting star swarm you can see tonight.
– The difference is that swarms follow comet orbits, but the meteor that fell over Lier came from an orbit inside the earth, he says and adds:
– That was what made it special. They usually come from asteroid belts.