Make a wish: where and how to observe the main starfall of the year. Starfall of the Year: the Perseid meteor shower in British photographs Perseid meteor shower where and when

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Starfall at a windmill in West Sussex

On the night of August 13, the peak of the meteor shower, known as the Perseid meteor shower, could be observed in different parts of the planet. BBC has collected the best estargazing photographs taken in different parts of the UK.

Starfall peaked on Saturday night. The Perseid meteor shower appears annually in July-August, when the Earth collides with dust particles from Comet Swift-Tuttle.

Image copyright@KeithTrueman Image caption Keith Truman photographed starfall against the backdrop of the Milky Way in Exmoor in southwest England Image copyright Bob girling Image caption Photo of Bob Geerling taken in Chilton, Oxfordshire Image copyright Michiko Smith Image caption Michiko Smith captured a series of shots from her courtyard garden in Normanton, West Yorkshire. Image copyright Alan saunders Image caption Alan Saunders was able to capture a meteor shower from his home near Exeter Image copyright Darren felgate Image caption BBC reader Darren Felgate said he took this photo from his garden next to the Scarborough cricket ground. Image copyright Brian gibson Image caption Brian Gibson photographed the Perseid stream in front of the Big Dipper from his home near Glasgow.

Experts warned that this year it will be more difficult to see the Perseid stream than usual, because the Moon was in its third phase. However, according to forecasters, fans of starfalls in the United Kingdom were lucky with the weather.

According to the vice-president of the British Society for Popular Astronomy Robin Scagell, the intensity of the meteor shower peaked on August 12, but it can be observed until the 20th of the month.

  • Stunning Rain of Fire: Perseid Meteor Shower in 2016 Photos

"For the next few days, you can still see the stars, although the intensity will not be the same. So if you missed everything last night, today you have a good chance," said Skagell.

Meteors are best seen in clear skies away from built-up areas, he said.

Image copyright Barry bird Image caption Barry Bird captured the Perseid stream, the Pleiades star cluster and Venus in one image. Photo taken at Winkombom, Gloucestershire. Image copyright John-paul brophy Image caption John-Paul Drofy photographed the sky over Beachy Head in Eastbourne Image copyright Mike driscoll Image caption Mike Driscoll was able to capture a meteor flying in front of a bucket in the Big Dipper in Ashurst, Hampshire Image copyright John cooper Image caption John Cooper photographed the sky above his garden in Leicestershire Published on 8/12/16 5:11 PM

Perseids 2016: where, when and how to watch a starfall in Russia, astronomers told.

The colorful meteor shower from the Perseid shower these days is approaching its peak, and, according to experts, this year the starfall in August 2016 will be almost twice as strong as usual.

Starfall in August 2016 VIDEO

To observe the Perseid meteor shower this night, Senior Researcher at the Pulkovo Observatory Sergei Smirnov said that to observe the Perseid meteor shower on the night of August 12-13, 2016, it is better to go to an open area outside the city, and the optimal time for observation is from midnight to midnight. nights.

"It is best to look further from the cities, so all summer residents, all tourists, all travelers find themselves in the most advantageous position. Somewhere in the sea, lake water area, in a forest clearing - these are the best positions. And in the city we see the beauty of urbanization", - quotes expert Life.

According to the scientist, residents of Moscow, Voronezh and the Crimea have more opportunities to see the starfall due to longer and darker nights, compared to the northern regions. Although the weather is clear in St. Petersburg now, the city residents will also be able to enjoy the grand spectacle.

"The position has changed due to the previous encounters of the meteor ring with large planets. That clot, which falls to us by the end of July and throughout August, has changed its orientation towards a greater number of collisions of particles," the astronomer said.

The Perseids are perhaps the most famous meteor shower in the Northern Hemisphere. There are several reasons for this. This is also a convenient time for observation, because these meteors reach their maximum activity in mid-August, when darkness sets in relatively early, but the nights are still warm and comfortable for late walks in the open air. At the same time, the Perseids are a fairly stable meteor shower, that is, during the maximum activity, the number of falling meteors rarely drops below 60 per hour. For comparison, another relatively stable Lyrid stream rarely exceeds 18 meteors per hour, while the Orionids, for example, give about 25 meteors. This is probably why we remember the August Starfall when it comes to meteors.

Usually a meteor shower is named after the constellation in which its radiant is located. Due to the effect of perspective, the trajectories of cosmic particles moving along almost parallel trajectories towards the observer on Earth will intersect in a small area in the sky. This area, which appears to be the source of the shower's meteors, is called the radiant.

For example, the radiant Leonidas is in the constellation Leo, and the Perseid is in Perseus.

True, sometimes the stream is named by the star closest to the radiant.

The Perseid stream has been known for about 2 thousand years. It is first mentioned in a Chinese chronicle dating back to 36 AD. "More than a hundred meteors flashed in the morning," the ancient observer wrote. Also, the Perseids are mentioned in Japanese and Korean sources of the 8th-11th centuries, and in Europe this meteor shower was called "Tears of St. Lawrence", since the Feast of St. Lawrence, which is held in Italy, falls on the most active period of the meteor shower. However, the Belgian mathematician, astronomer and meteorologist Adolphe Ketele, who reported his observations in 1835, is considered the official discoverer of the annual August starfall.

The first explorer to calculate the average number of meteors per hour was Edward Hayes. For a long time, the activity of the meteor shower was not very high and fluctuated between 40-90 meteors per hour, but after 1858 the Perseids became more active. For example, in 1863, 215 meteors were recorded per hour. At the same time, the reason for such an increase was discovered. In mid-July 1862, American scientists Lewis Swift and Horace Tuttle discovered a beautiful new comet, which was named Swift-Tuttle comet. For the rest of the summer, she was clearly visible in the Northern Hemisphere. The comet reached its maximum brightness in the last week of August. And when observed through a telescope, unusual structures were noticeable - glowing hazy streams radiating from the dense nucleus of a comet, like the petals of a flower.

Comet 109P / Swift-Tuttle was recognized as one of the ten most beautiful comets of the 19th century.

In 1867, the famous Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli (by the way, the one who discovered the Martian channels) announced that the orbit of the recently discovered comet almost coincided with the calculated orbit for several Perseids meteoroids. This is how the idea arose that meteor showers were associated with certain comets. This explains the increase in the activity of the August meteors in the 60s of the XIX century. The fact is that due to the influence of solar radiation at perihelion, the comet's orbits are intensively losing matter. Calculations show that the smaller the size of a cometary particle, the easier it is to overcome gravity and begin your journey through the solar system. However, the speed of the ejection of cometary matter is much less than the speed of the parent comet. It is not enough for the ejected dust particles to scatter in different directions. As a result, they form a thick plume of particles, sometimes several hundred thousand or even millions of kilometers across. When the Earth crosses such a plume, meteors flare up in the upper atmosphere - particles of cometary matter burning in the atmosphere. The outbreak occurs at an altitude of about 100 km, so that each meteor is visible from the surface of the planet over a large area.

Comet Swift-Tuttle makes one revolution around the Sun in about 133 years. It has a fairly large core with a diameter of 26 km. Recall that the famous comet 67P / Churyumov - Gerasimenko, near which the automatic interplanetary station Rosetta is now operating, has a much smaller core - only 4 km across. The next time after the discovery, the comet Swift-Tuttle returned in 1992. Therefore, in the 1990s, the Perseids were very active. Over the course of an hour, hundreds of meteors flashed across the earth's sky, with many very bright shooting stars.

With the removal of the comet to the outskirts of the solar system, the activity of the Perseids gradually decreased until it entered its usual channel - about 60 meteors per hour.

At the same time, the stream remains one of the most stable and beautiful, but the former abundance of shooting stars, which many remember from childhood, no longer exists. Especially when trying to make observations near large urban centers, where the night sky is never dark enough.

But the Perseids still have a surprise. In ordinary years, the meteor shower is, as it were, outside the Earth's orbit at some distance. But periodically, under the influence of the gravity of the giant planets, this distance can change. In 2016, a section of the stream will pass near the Earth, disturbed by the gravitational influence of Jupiter and shifted closer to the Earth's orbit. According to the forecast International Meteor Organization (IMO), the number of meteors will reach 150 per hour! Not a star rain, of course, but much more than in previous years. Moreover, on the night of August 12, the Earth will pass at a very short distance from the two trails of particles ejected by the comet during the fly-bys of 1479 and 1862.

The particles of both trails are likely to overlap each other, which will also somewhat increase the activity of the stream as a whole.

The maximum activity of the meteor shower will come on the night of August 13. But you can start observing right now. According to IMO, Perseids are increasingly entering the earth's atmosphere. It is best to make observations on the night of August 12 and 13. Observations of meteors are just that rare case in astronomy when we do not need any additional instruments. Binoculars and spotting scopes limit your field of view and will actually get in the way. It is only necessary to choose an observation site located far from bright light sources and giving a sufficiently large view of the sky. It can be in a field, on a hill, on a large forest edge, or on the shore of a lake. In a city setting, you can go to a park or to a vacant lot. And when using the camera on a tripod, you can get beautiful pictures of the starry sky with many meteors.

The Perseid meteor shower 2016, will unleash its stream of light on Earth in August this year, when a long plume of debris from comet Swift-Tuttle intersects with the trajectory of our planet. An unforgettable show awaits us. We will tell you how and where the Perseids will be visible in 2016.

According to many astronomers, the Perseid Starfall is rightfully considered the most popular meteor shower of the year. In 2016, it will be brighter than ever: the number of falling meteors will, on average, double.

It is expected that this year, at its peak, there will be 150 to 200 Perseid Starfall meteors per hour per hour, up from 80 in normal years. The last time astronomers observed such an increase was in 2009.

Perseids 2016 - What time to watch?

From July 17 to August 24, the Earth will pass through the path of Comet Swift-Tuttle. At the same time, the peak time - when our planet will enter the densest region of the cometary plume - will be on August 12. In other words, at this peak, you will see the largest number of meteors in the shortest possible period, however, before and after this date, you can still observe a certain number of Perseids.

These meteors will appear from the constellation Perseus, which appears in the sky at about 22 hours local time. At the same time, most of the meteors will be visible to the observer only after midnight. Starfall can illuminate the entire night sky, but its beginning will invariably emerge from the constellation Perseus.

On the evening of August 11, the moon's illumination will interfere with the survey, but it will set at 1 a.m. on August 12. Therefore, it is best to start your observations of the meteor shower after moonset.

Perseids 2016 - Where Will They Be Seen?

The Perseids meteor shower is most comfortable to observe in the northern hemisphere and up to the middle of the southern latitudes, all you need is the darkest space, the opportunity to sit comfortably and a little patience.

The full moon in August will occur on the 18th, so the first half of the month will be most comfortable to observe, when the light from the moon is not so bright.

Perseids 2016 - Source?

Comet Swift-Tuttle is the largest known space object that regularly passes near the Earth; its width is about 26 kilometers. The last time this comet orbiting the Sun passed near our planet was in 1992, the next time the same meeting will take place only in 2126. However, we will not let us forget about this comet, its trail consisting of cometary dust and debris, which annually creates the Perseid meteor shower.

As you sit and watch a meteor shower, you actually see pieces of a comet burning up in the earth's atmosphere at a speed of 59 kilometers per second. In space, these debris are called "meteoroids", but as they enter the earth's atmosphere, they are already called "meteors." If the “meteor” was able to reach the surface of the Earth and did not burn up in the atmosphere, it is already customary to call it “meteorite”.

Most Perseid meteors are not large enough to reach the Earth's surface, and are roughly the size of a grain of sand.

This year, the trail from the comet is as dense as ever, in other words, the stellar rain will be at least twice as intense as usual. This happens when numerous fragments of a comet come together due to the gravitational influence of the giant planets of our solar system.

It is noteworthy that this year the comet's trail will include meteors that fell away from it in 1862, 1479 and 1079. In other words, some of the meteors that illuminate Earth's night sky this August broke away from Comet Swift-Tuttle about one thousand years ago.

Perseids 2016 - How to See?

The more area of ​​the sky you see, the better it is for viewing the meteor shower. Also, you should, if possible, leave the city, where there is not a lot of light, and be patient for the next 2-3 hours. It will take your eyes up to about 30 minutes to get used to complete darkness. The more you can wait, the more you can see. 150 meteors per hour gives us, for example, two to three meteors per minute, the brightness of which will vary depending on their size.

Also, when going out of town, do not forget to take a comfortable folding chair, a little "brake" for a snack, and some kind of insect spray. After that, you can relax and watch the fabulous heavenly show.

The Perseid meteor shower is rightfully considered one of the most popular and picturesque "star showers". It owes its existence to the comet Swift-Tuttle, it pleases the inhabitants of the northern hemisphere every year. The peak of the meteor shower is expected from Thursday to Friday and from Friday to Saturday. Moreover, in 2016 the Perseids will be much more intense than before. We will talk about how to observe, study and even take pictures of meteors, as well as about other astronomical and atmospheric phenomena in August.

The Perseids Meteor Shower 2016: a detailed guide and observation secrets. Source: gorodkirov.ru

Where and when to watch

Perseid activity begins to grow on August 5, reaching its peak 11th to 12th(for the European part of Russia) and from 12th to 13th August(for Siberia and the Far East). The increased activity gradually decreases after the peak until August 15, individual meteors can be observed until August 24. During the days of the maximum shower, the number of meteors in 2016 will reach up to 150 per hour - this is the forecast of the International Meteor Organization (IMO). The high increase in the number of observed meteors in comparison with previous years is due to the fact that this year near our planet will pass a section of the stream, shifted closer to Earth's orbit and disturbed by the gravitational effect of the giant Jupiter. In addition, on the night of August 12, the Earth will pass next to two plumes of particles ejected by comet Swift-Tuttle in 1479 and 1862, which will also increase the intensity of the "star rain". By the way, you can monitor the activity of the Perseids online, and the NASA channel will help you to monitor the stream in real time.

It is worth observing the Perseids with the naked eye, limited only by glasses or contact lenses if you have poor eyesight. You don't need to take binoculars, telescopes, telescopes with you - they will only cover most of the sky. Observations can be hindered by bad weather and light exposure in large cities and towns. In this case, it is worth driving after sunset as far from the city as possible to those places where the lighting tends to zero. Fit hills, vacant lots, fields at a distance of about 50 km from megacities. The darker the sky and the wider the view, the more likely it is to see even a faint meteor. Weather and cloudiness can be monitored using the Hydrometeorological Center service.


For a better view, professionals advise to sit on a sun lounger or lie directly on the ground, having previously laid one or two bedspreads. It's good to take a sleeping bag with you - the August nights are no longer warm. So, at this time, the air temperature at night in the Leningrad region rarely rises above 12 degrees. Get ready for the fact that you will need to lie / sit for a couple of hours with obligatory breaks of 10 minutes - before dawn begins. Breaks are needed in order not to lose concentration and warm up, otherwise, after an hour, most of the meteors will be difficult to notice.

How to find and observe

Find constellation Perseus simple enough. You need to find in the sky familiar to everyone Ursa Major- the constellation resembles a bucket with a handle. If you look a little to the right and slightly up, you will also see one of the bright and memorable constellations, which is visible even in the city, despite the light exposure - Cassiopeia in the form of the letter W. Just below Cassiopeia are four bright stars of Perseus, lined up along one slightly curved line. It is from the point between Cassiopeia and Perseus, called radiant, and the Perseids fly out, leaving a bright and thin strip of light in the sky that disappears in a couple of seconds. To determine if a meteor is a Perseid, you need to visually continue its track with a straight line. If the line does not cross the radiant, then the meteor has nothing to do with the Perseids and is called sporadic... However, sporadic meteors can be quite bright and impressive.


If you are traveling with a group of several people and want to count the meteors seen, as well as understand the stars and constellations, you can use the professional way of observing. Let each viewer of the meteor shower have their own observable sector of the sky, bounded by several bright landmark stars. If you are traveling more than 50 km from major cities, feel free to take a DSLR camera, a good lens and a tripod with you. There is a detailed guide to shooting any meteor showers.

When the meteors are not visible in the sky, you should not be upset. Treat the starry sky as a gift, explore the brightest stars, constellations and even galaxies using special applications. In addition, it is interesting to observe their companions, which move relative to the "fixed stars" in different directions. In addition, you can see and ISS- Trace the International Space Station using the free ISS Spotter app for iOS and the inexpensive ISS Detector Satellite Tracker for Android. That's not all: astronomers are also very fond of satellite flares. Iridium, the track of which is different from meteors - short, bright, thickened in the middle, similar in shape to a spindle.

 

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