🔸 Magic night in Europe’s sky; from a solar eclipse to a meteor shower

At the peak of summer, the season is that of meteor showers. The Perseid meteor shower peaks on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, August 12 and 13 (21 and 22 Mordad). The best time to watch this meteor shower is from 11 p.m. Wednesday to 4 a.m. Thursday (Central European Time).

Astronomers expect that during each hour within this time window, up to 100 meteors will be visible. This year, a new moon and favorable weather conditions promise ideal conditions for viewing the meteor shower.

During a new moon, the moon is positioned almost between Earth and the sun and is either barely visible from Earth or not visible at all. This means that the brightly lit part of the moon is oriented largely away from Earth.

In addition, the sky is expected to be mostly clear. While clouds may prevent viewing meteors in the far north of Germany, according to weather forecasts the sky will be cloud-free in other parts of Germany.

Caroline Lieffke of the Astronomy Center in Heidelberg writes that, as always, it is best to go to a place where the sky is as dark as possible for observation. In this way, even the dimmest meteors will be visible. The astrophysicist explains: “Light pollution from cities and larger residential areas unfortunately causes a lot of disruption.”

According to Lieffke, there is no need for tools such as binoculars or a telescope to watch the meteors; “on the contrary, these tools are a hindrance.” She says that with the naked eye, about 60 to 70 meteors will be visible per hour.

The first Perseid meteors have appeared in the sky since the end of last July. These summer meteors get their name from the constellation Perseus.

The Perseids appear to originate from this constellation. Astronomers call this apparent point of origin the “radiant” of the shower.

But in fact, these meteors come from the vicinity of Earth. As our planet orbits the sun, each year from mid-July to late August it passes through a cloud of very tiny particles left behind by the Swift–Tuttle comet (109P/Swift–Tuttle), discovered in 1862, in the course of its orbit around the sun.

When Earth encounters this trail of cosmic dust, dust particles from the comet—often only as big as a pinhead—enter Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of 60 kilometers per second, i.e., 216,000 kilometers per hour.

Read the full text of the report on the Deutsche Welle Persian website.