Astronomy: get ready for the night of shooting stars!

2023-08-11 15:11:58

Astronomy

Get ready for the night of shooting stars!

The Earth crosses the Perseids cluster, which promises beautiful nocturnal spectacles, particularly the night from Saturday to Sunday.

PostedAugust 11, 2023, 5:11 PM

Lie down and gaze at the sky!

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The Earth orbits the Sun and every year, between mid-July and mid-August, it passes through the Perseid cluster. This is a debris cloud left behind by Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. The size of the grains varies between that of a grain of sand and that of a pea.

When these particles reach the Earth’s atmosphere at high speed, regarding 60 km/s, the friction ionizes the air, which evaporates them. These meteors, as they are called, can thus reach a temperature of 1650°C due to the compression of the air in front of them. This ionization causes a luminous trail which lasts approximately between 115 and 90 km of altitude on average.

A thin moon

The peak of this shower of shooting stars will take place this year on the night of Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 August. You need maximum darkness to see them well, so the ideal range is between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m., especially since this year the Moon will be a thin crescent rising quite late.

Of course, it avoids light pollution as much as possible, but for the fifth consecutive year, the Perséides Project has managed to convince 200 French-speaking municipalities out of the 600 contacted to turn off all or part of their public lighting. Lausanne, for example, will plunge into darkness the quays of Ouchy and the surrounding parks, the park of the lake of Sauvabelin and will turn off the lighting in particular of the cathedral and the fireplace of Pierre-de-Plan. The website of Project Perseides details the municipalities that play the game and indicates the best locations for observing the Perseids in each French-speaking canton.

The weather should be good

On his side, MeteoNews announces a fairly favorable weather for observation, with slightly cloudy nights, despite the possible appearance of cloudiness in the mountains. Nighttime temperatures should be mild, which will make it easier to stay outside for a long time. Because, we remind you, you have to let your vision get used to the darkness, the ideal being to be lying on a deck chair looking in the direction of the northeast. MeteoNews expects sightings between 20 to 40 shooting stars per hour.

And for those unable to attend the show outside, The Virtual Telescope Project is planning a broadcast on YouTube.

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