Shooting stars and the summer triangle: This is how you see the spectacle in the Munich night sky
Created: 08/05/2022 10:22 am
By: Martina Williams
Great view from the Deutsches Museum: Comet C/2020 F3 (Neowise) appeared over Munich in 2020.
© Marco Sproviero
In Munich, the summer nights are balmy and shooting stars are in high season.
Three bright stars shine over the city.
Star expert explains the spectacle in the sky.
Munich – We know the star of the south in Munich.
We also have restaurants and hotels with stars on the Isar.
But have you heard of Vega, Deneb and Atair?
Absolute stars that can now be admired in summer!
After all, it's the three brightest stars above our city, the Summer Triangle.
"In addition, the Perseids, the shooting stars in summer, are now in high season," says Marco Sproviero (49).
In the tz, the chairman of the observation group for the Deutsches Museum Observatory (
www.beobservergruppe.de
) explains the secrets of Munich's night sky.
Saturn is currently clearly visible, rising east-southeast from 9:30 p.m.
"Jupiter can be discovered in the east from 11 p.m.," says Marco Sproviero, software engineer at BMW.
He was already a stargazer as a child, and his fascination became a hobby.
He now has a website (
www.munichspace.de
) about our solar system, gives astronomical lectures and organizes excursions at the Munich adult education center.
After so many shooting stars that he has already seen - does he still wish for something?
"No," says Sproviero.
“Wishing has nothing to do with science.
But I'm always fascinated by what nature has given us.” So, cheer up, dear readers, and look skyward.
With the tz it will be starry!
Summer Triangle: where and when to see it best in the sky
Around 10 p.m. the Summer Triangle can be seen particularly well in the middle of the sky.
"It consists of the three fixed stars Deneb, Vega and Atair, which belong to three different constellations," says Marco Sproviero.
“Deneb is in the Cygnus constellation, Vega is in the Lyra constellation, and Atair is in the Eagle constellation.” And where does their super-luminosity come from?
"Vega and Atair are about twice the size of the sun and emit many times more light," explains the Munich scientist.
"Deneb's luminosity is at least 100,000 times stronger than that of the sun." This is why this star, which is the furthest away from us, can still be seen well with the naked eye.
Summer triangle: You can see the stars at night from the Isar raftsman, the statue on the Hinterbrühl lake.
© Sproviero
Summer triangle and its three constellations
There are 88 constellations, in summer these three dominate, among others: swan, lyre and eagle.
The swan lies with Deneb in the middle of the Milky Way.
In ancient Greece, the cruciform constellation was called Ornis, which means bird.
The Romans then spoke of Cygnus, the swan.
The bright stars make the sky look like it's flying south with wings outstretched.
The Lyra constellation, named after a musical instrument, is rather small and lies south of the Milky Way with the main star Vega.
Called Lyra in Latin, the stars are arranged in a parallelogram.
In the constellation Eagle - Latin Aquila - Atair and two other stars form the head of the bird.
The eagle flies north-east towards the swan.
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Meteor, Meteorid & Meteorite
Meteor/Shooting Star
: Meteor is the scientific term for shooting star.
What is meant is the luminous phenomenon that a meteorite produces when it enters and passes through the earth's atmosphere.
The chunks are between five and ten centimeters in size.
Marco Sproviero: "The larger the meteorite is, i.e. 10 to 15 centimeters, the brighter it shines." Then we speak of fireballs or bolides.
Meteorid
: They travel in space, are among the small bodies of the solar system along with the asteroids and comets.
If a meteoroid enters the earth's atmosphere, it burns up completely (shooting star) or falls to the ground as a meteorite.
Meteorite
: Some chunks are so big that they don't burn up completely, but land on the earth (photo above).
The largest was discovered in Namibia in 1920: a 60-ton iron meteorite.
Shooting stars over Munich: Perseids are now in high season
The second sparkling celestial spectacle in August is the Perseids, named after the constellation Perseus.
Descended from Comet 109P Swift Tuttle, the Perseids are formed when they enter Earth's atmosphere as particles.
Marco Sproviero: "The air is then made to glow by the particles."
We reach the maximum in the night of August 12-13, here you can see over 100 shooting stars per hour.
And they don't actually fall from the sky – they race through the night at 216,000 km per hour.
This year there is another special feature: "There is also a full moon on August 12, so it will be relatively bright in the sky."
Sproviero's tip: "To see the Perseids well, look in the opposite direction of the moon, towards the northeast." Darkness is important anyway: "Good places in the city are the northern part of the English Garden and the Panzerwiese.
Further south is the Perlacher Forst with the 16 and 17 meadows near the Harlaching Clinic.” You can also experience a good night sky by city standards at the Hinterbrühler See on the Isar.
Sproviero: "So rather away from the big city lights."
Star expert Marco Sproviero explains the secrets of the Munich night sky.
© DM Planetarium
Great moments in Munich
Marco Sproviero will give the lecture Shooting Stars – Greetings from Outer Space at the MVHS on Friday from 8 to 9.30 p.m.
Place: Einstein 28, Bildungszentrum, Einsteinstr.
28, costs: 8 euros, students: 5 euros.
On August 12, from 10:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., he will lead the excursion to observe shooting stars in Grünwald.
Cost: 8 euros.
There are only a few places left here.
Registration for both Sternstunden by calling (089) 480 06 62 39 or online
at www.mvhs.de
