The classic appointment with the famous meteors of August, the Perseids, 'daughters' of the comet Swift-Tuttle, is back: although the night of San Lorenzo is traditionally dedicated to their observation, the peak for this year is expected at dawn on Sunday 13 August, when the defiliated Moon will allow you to admire a better show than that of 2022. Word of astrophysicist Gianluca Masi, scientific director of the Virtual Telescope Project.
"After an ungenerous 2022, the observing conditions of the Perseids will be much more favorable for 2023," says Masi. "The Moon, in fact, will be new on the morning of August 16: therefore, at the maximum expected for dawn on August 13 there will be only a modest sickle in the sky, which will rise at the end of the night. Better conditions will only be in 2026."
You can turn your eyes to the sky at any time, "but in the second part of the night you can see a significant increase in meteoric activity - recalls Masi - because at dawn the observer is on the part of the Earth that advances along its orbit towards cometary dust, so it is as if he saw from the 'windshield' instead of from the rear window of our planet".
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