NASA announced when the meteor shower will reach its peak of activity.
This month was one of the most anticipated since NASA recently announced when the Perseid phenomenon, as the rain of starsit will reach its maximum point of activity.
Perseids is called the remains of debris from comet “Swift-Tuttle”, a heavy kind of “ball”, which comes close to and orbits our galaxy’s sun only every 133 years. Specialists reported on this month’s astronomical event, which may not be seen between 50 and 100 stars shots per hour, as usual every year.
From NASA they announced that the event will reach its peak on the night of Friday the 12th to Saturday the 13th of August. This astronomical spectacle occurs every year, and usually occurs between July and August, since these are the months in which the particles from the comet Swift-Tuttle’s tail cross the Earth’s orbit, but it will not be the same meteor shower.
In any case, this year there will be a problem to see them and that is that there will be a Full Moon. NASA astronomer Bill Cooke had this to say: “Sadly, this year’s Perseid peak will have the worst possible circumstances for observers.”
For his part, the director of the Meteoroid Environment Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, United States, said: “Most of us in North America would normally see 50 or 60 meteors per hour, but this year, during the normal peak, the full Moon will reduce that to 10-20 an hour, at best.”
In this context, it is most likely that this year will not be the best show for astronomy fans, because the light reflected by the Moon is much brighter than meteorites, and that will make it impossible to see with clarity the rest of the shooting stars.
Probably the brightest Perseids can be seen in their entirety, since they pass through our atmosphere and burn more intensely. These will begin to wane on August 21 and 22, and will cease completely on September 1, when the full Moon has completely faded (New Moon).
Although it will not be the best year to see the famous Perseids, the truth is that it will always be worth observing the famous astronomical event.
The ideal to observe this type of event is if it is not cloudy, so you can witness it from an observation point away from any bright light. Telescopes or binoculars are not recommended due to their small fields of view.