2007 Perseid meteor shower is upon us

William Atkins
Tuesday, 31 July 2007 17:28

Science - Space

The Perseid meteor shower, sometimes generally called shooting stars, will be putting on a great performance in August—with hundreds of streaks crossing the night sky in mid-August.

The “shooting star”appearance is caused by pieces of space debris hitting the Earth’s upper atmosphere and being vaporized.

The time around August 12,2007, should be an exceptionally good viewing time for the Perseid shower because the Moon is in its new phase so the sky will be exceptionally dark—a good time to view meteors.

Hundreds of meteors should be visible each night, with about one to two every minute during the middle of the month—around the nights of August 12 and 13. The meteors will appear to originate from the constellation Perseus, from which it gets its name Perseid.

The constellation Perseus appears in the northeastern night sky. Skygazing will be optimum around the nine o’clock time period in your local area. Some of the meteors may be seen very close to the northeastern horizon of the Earth.

Meteor showers are actually comets that have tossed off some of their materials on their trips around the Sun. The icy, dusty material and the Earth may meet, and when this happens, some of the space debris falls into the Earth’s atmosphere and burns up—giving us humans a spectacular dispay in the night sky.

Traditionally, meteor showers are named for the constellation from which it appears to originate as it begins it fall into the atmosphere. Such a point is called by astronomers the radiant. Another meteor shower, for instance, the Leonid meteor shower, is named for the constellation Leo.