Shooting Stars in August: Perseids best seen on land
Created: 08/12/2022, 12:30 p.m
By: Ines Alms
In August 2022 it will be that time again: As every year, the number of Perseid shooting stars will reach its peak.
However, sighting is made more difficult.
From July 17th to August 24th, they can be observed in large numbers in the starry sky on clear nights: shooting stars not only fascinate amateur astronomers - hardly any sky gazer can resist the urge to silently wish for something when they are sighted.
The fewer clouds there are in the sky, the better, the same applies to the lighting.
Full moon and street lights make visibility difficult.
Shooting Stars in August: Perseids best seen on land
The Perseids are said to be visible across the entire northern hemisphere of the earth - preferably on land.
© UPI Photo/Imago
Between August 11th and 13th, up to 100 shooting stars, the Perseids, should be visible every hour in our eastern night sky.
According to the
watson.ch
portal , these have their name from the constellation Perseus, from which they apparently come.
In fact, however, they are fragments of comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, dust particles that are often no larger than a grain of sand.
These shooting stars, small meteoroids, enter the Earth's atmosphere and create a plasma that makes the air glow.
They should be visible from the entire northern hemisphere of the earth.
From a city balcony, however, it is generally more difficult to see the celestial bodies with their tails due to the brightness of the street lamps - only about 20 to 60 can be seen in an hour.
Observation points such as a garden or a meadow in the country are therefore better suited.
The full moon shines over the night sky
As
wetter.de
reports, another phenomenon is likely to bring gloomy prospects this year: the full moon.
Although the nights in August often allow for a cloudless view of the sky, i.e. could not be more suitable, the full moon shines so brightly that its radiance literally makes many shooting stars fade into obscurity.
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A small consolation: since the best time to observe shooting stars is between 2 and 4 a.m. on the night of August 12th to 13th, you can actually save yourself getting up.
And instead look a little more relaxed at the night sky on other days in August.
As
watson.ch
reports, ten to 30 Perseids per hour can also be seen in the surrounding nights.
From mid-August, the number then decreases significantly again.
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