Perseid over Schans Zanes. Photo: Peter Heine.
The Perseid meteor stars are closely associated with summer vacation. Many people were free, slept late in the warm weather, and thus had the opportunity to look up at the night sky. That’s why these meteorites are so common. In this article you can read whether the conditions are favorable for making wishes this year.
It last weeks Meteor stars can be seen regularly. This is because of the different combinations Meteor showers and individual meteors. At midnight, about 12-20 meteors can be seen per hour. With the Perseids on the way, you’d expect the number of visible meteors to grow exponentially, but that’s not the case. This year’s peak night, from Friday 12 to Saturday August 13, will see about 10-18 meteors per hour from the Perseids. Together with several other stars, the total is 12-20 meteors per hour.
Why is the stellar shower limited this year?
Under favorable conditions, the Perseids can produce up to 85 meteors per hour during peak nighttime. The fact that there are fewer this year is mainly due to the full moon. Due to the intrusive moonlight, only the brightest shooting star could be seen. The actual peak also falls on Saturday at 8 am, when it is already light. So the absolute peak moment cannot be considered. Also, the Perseid meteor shower is not perpendicular to our heads. When this is the case, they are the most obvious.
Animation by dalam60detik.nl.
Best viewing moment
The best time to watch with the most visible stars is on August 13 at around 4:45 am. There are about 20 hours to see. Looking slanted east to northeast, you have the best chance of seeing bright stars. You will then see a fast, clear, and luminous track. The speed of the fall was extraordinarily high: almost 214,000 km/h.
Perseids and sparks capture the sea in one photo. Photo: Corne Ouwehand.
Of course it is important that there are no clouds during the best viewing moments. Next week the weather will be mostly sunny. Precisely at the height of the night, different weather models suggest the possibility of some clouds and some rain. However, the chance of clear weather is 75% at this time. It remains to be seen how exactly this will be done. We’ll let you know just before the busy night and you can easily follow the forecast for next weekend through us weather forecast.
Don’t want to risk setting an alarm and being disappointed by a cloudy sky? Then look especially on the previous nights. Even then, you can see about 10 to 20 meteors per hour. On August 10 at 3:30 am there were 22 exhibitions. Then the chance of sunny weather is 95%. Nights will be mild next week with temperatures of 20 degrees around midnight and at least 15 degrees Celsius.
Also check out our tips for getting the best shooting star shots.
What is a shooting star?
Shooting stars, or meteors, are tiny pieces of space debris that penetrate our atmosphere. Once this happens, these stones start to glow and you see these as small traces. These light trails are called meteors. Did you know that meteorites don’t burn at all as they pass through the atmosphere? You can read exactly how it works in our article What is a shooting star?
source: sky.observation.com
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