Until Friday, astronomy enthusiasts can observe the Perseid phenomenon as several dozen meteors per hour light up the sky.
Falling stars are small pieces of dust that enter Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of approximately 210,000 kilometers per hour.
Astronomer André Grandchamps, from the Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium, explains that at this speed, the dust travels a great distance before being entirely consumed and leaving in its wake the long luminous trail characteristic of shooting stars.
It is the comets that are responsible for the meteor showers. As they circulate around the Sun, comets leave behind a cloud of dust. Several of these clouds cross the orbit of the Earth. When our planet passes through one of these clouds, a large amount of dust enters the Earth’s atmosphere.
M. Grandchamps reports that there are several dozen meteor showers, but that of the Perseids is one of the three strongest.
Under ideal conditions, i.e. a perfectly clear sky and without light pollution, it is possible to observe up to a hundred meteors per hour. The rain is most spectacular between August 10 and 14.
This year, the maximum intensity has already taken place, this Wednesday from 4 am. And since the Moon was at the last quarter on Tuesday, observations were hampered considerably during the favorable period of the end of the night.
Astronomer Grandchamps suggests taking advantage of the period between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. to observe cosmic dust.
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