The best nights of the Perseids 2023 arrive: Guide to see the meteor shower
2023 is an excellent year to observe the Perseids because, during the maximum, the Moon will be in the new moon phase and it will not be an impediment. The best time to observe them is at dawn from Saturday 12 to Sunday 13 August, but since the end of July they have been able to see some. We just need a place protected from artificial light, a cloudless sky and a little patience.
HOW TO OBSERVE THE PERSEIDS
This month of August will be very favorable for the observation of the Perseids since its maximum occurs very close to the new moon (which will take place on the 16th).. Therefore, contrary to what happened last year, this time the moonlight will not be an impediment to see shooting stars.
The radiant of the Perseids
The number of Perseids observable per hour is highly variable.. In a very dark place and with the radiant high above the horizon, it can exceed a hundred. However, the number of meteors observed per hour can vary very rapidly as the density of rock fragments varies in the area of space traversed by the Earth, therefore concrete predictions about a specific number of meteors depending on the day and time are difficult to obtain. perform and are usually affected by high uncertainty.
WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO SEE THE RAIN OF STARS
The highest activity of the Perseids (measured in number of meteors per hour) will be reached at dawn from Saturday 12 to Sunday 13 August. The best times to see the most and brightest meteors are from dusk until 3 or 4 in the morning. It is when the edge of the waning Moon has not yet risen and when the constellation of Perseus is already high on the horizon.
Although the radiant of this shower of stars is in the constellation of Perseus, it is not necessary to know the constellations, nor is it essential to look towards Perseus, to see the Perseids. Shooting stars can appear anywhere on the celestial vault, although they all seem to come from that point called the radiant.
Perseids have been seen from July 23 to August 22, approximately, but it must be taken into account that the full moon took place on August 1, so the last days of July and the first days of August were not especially favorable for your observation. Until the 22nd, there will be the best conditions to observe a greater number of meteors.
From where to see the Perseids
The number of observable meteors per hour looking towards the zenith may exceed one hundred, under optimal conditions, that is, observing on the nights of maximum activity, with the constellation of Perseus high above the horizon, without a moon, without clouds and without Light pollution. In other not so ideal conditions, the location of the observer is what determines, to a large extent, the number of meteors observed: it is always preferable to monitor the area that is clearest of clouds and the one freest from light pollution.
The fact is that, with each passing day, it is more and more difficult to find very dark places and almost all peninsular observers will be located in areas with appreciable light pollution.. It is therefore convenient to get as far away from the cities as possible because their lights pollute the sky up to hundreds of kilometers away.. Therefore, from a reasonably dark place on the Peninsula, we should not expect to see more than a couple of dozen meteors per hour.
WHAT ARE SHOOTING STARS
First of all: shooting stars are not stars. They are particles or small fragments lost by comets. Indeed, as comets describe their orbits around the Sun, they spew into space a trail of gases, dust, and debris (rocky materials) that remains in an orbit very similar to that of the parent comet.
Each periodic comet, throughout its repeated orbits around the Sun, thus forms a ring in which innumerable fragments are found.. When the Earth, in its orbital motion, encounters one of these rings, some of the rocky fragments (meteoroids) are caught by its gravitational field and fall at high speed through the atmosphere, forming a meteor shower.. Friction with atmospheric gases calcines and vaporizes meteors that appear bright for a fraction of a second, forming what we popularly call shooting stars.
The Perseids occur when the Earth reaches the trail left by the Swift-Tuttle
The height at which a meteor becomes bright depends on the speed of penetration into the atmosphere, but it is usually around 100 kilometers. However, the high brightness and the great transverse speed of some meteors cause a spectacular effect, causing the illusion in the observer that they are very close.. Meteoroids with a mass of less than a kilogram are completely calcined in the atmosphere, but the largest and most dense (rocky or metallic consistency) form meteorites: calcined remains that fall to the ground.
ALSO INTERESTING
This Perseid meteor shower is created when, as every year around this time, the Earth, on its path of translation around the Sun, crosses an area populated by the rocky fragments thrown by the periodic comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle when visiting this region every 133 years.
The Perseids were particularly active in 1992, the year Comet Swift-Tuttle passed close to the Sun.. The next approach of the comet to the Sun (perihelion) will be in the year 2126.
The Perseids are visible from the entire northern hemisphere in high summer. The speeds of these meteors can exceed 50 kilometers per second (180,000 kilometers per hour).. Their high activity, together with favorable weather conditions for viewing during the boreal summer, make the Perseids the most easily observable and the most popular meteor shower.
In order of importance of their activity, on average, the Perseids constitute the third meteor shower that occurs in the year. Both the Quadrantids (visible in January) and the Geminids (in December) tend to generate more meteors per hour.. Although they show a more irregular behavior, the Leonids (in mid-November) are usually as spectacular as the Perseids.
Due to the proximity of the maximum of this meteor shower to August 10, the feast day of the Spanish martyr who was burned on a grill in Rome in the year 258, the Perseids are also called 'Tears of Saint Lawrence'.
Rafael Bachiller is director of the National Astronomical Observatory (National Geographic Institute) and academic of the Royal Academy of Doctors of Spain.