Have you heard of the famous meteor shower? If yes, this may interest you a lot, on the other hand, if you have not heard of the subject, we will explain what it is and when it will happen.
The first thing you should know is that this phenomenon is visible to the naked eye, so you will not need the help of a telescope or binoculars.
What is it?
According to the magazine National Geographicwhat you will see fall between April 16 and 23 are nothing more and nothing less than a meteor or space rock, which has entered the Earth becoming a meteorite, since as this rock falls with so much force towards our planet the air overheats it and with this allowing itself to be seen as a “shooting star”.
So that slightly elongated light that you see coming out of the rock is the hot air that glows as the rock passes by, therefore, when many meteorites fall, it is when the so-called “star shower” occurs.
Why does this occur?
When a comet approaches the sun at a certain distance, part of the ice that it has, being close to the sun, begins to rise in temperature and therefore to disintegrate, thus releasing dust and rocks.
Now that you know this, we will put more emphasis on the astronomical event that will occur this month. The Lyrid meteor shower is regarding to take place, this being the first of April, and you cannot miss it because according to information from ADN40It is said that this happens every certain number of years, can you imagine missing something like this?
And it is that this meteor shower is so important because it comes from the popular Comet Thatcher, which takes just over 400 years to complete one revolution around the Sun.
But in case you forget or by chance you cannot see it, we tell you that between April 18 and May 28 another of these wonderful phenomena belonging to the Aquarids will be possible.
Are they dangerous?
Normally, these rocks do not become meteoroids, that is, they do not touch the ground because they disintegrate in their path until they are just dust. On the other hand, seeing them does not cause any risk to our eyes, we will only appreciate how beautiful that walking flash looks.
A curious note regarding this is that there is a popular belief that if you see a shooting star you have an opportunity to make a wish, this is because the astronomer Claudius Ptolemy believed that if a shooting star fell the kingdom of heaven it would open for mortals, then wishes were made with the objective that they would be heard.
There are those who take advantage of a shooting star for this, there are those who take advantage of it solely because it is a beautiful spectacle, and still others who, in our love of astronomy, make the most of this spectacle trying to obtain more detailed images and memories with our cameras. The reason why you will see it does not matter, the important thing is that you do it, because as mentioned above, these events are long in coming.
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