Perseid meteor stream Smashed comet sends rain - THE WORLD

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In the coming days is a lot going on in the sky: More than 100 shooting stars per hour gives us the Perseid stream when it reaches its maximum. Provided the weather is.

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In the coming days, a lot is going on in the sky: More than 100 shooting stars per hour gives us the Perseid stream when it reaches its maximum. Provided the weather is.

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In its course around the sun crosses the Earth in the next few days, the track of the comet “Swift-Tuttle.” The millimeter dust particles are as bright shooting stars in the night sky to be visible, said the Hamburg Planetarium.

From this Saturday through Wednesday unfolds the meteor shower its greatest activity – with the climax of the night to Tuesday. Then, under a clear sky per hour more than 100 of the small, brief flashes of light could be seen in the sky.

the best observing time is the second half of the night after midnight. Around this time, as the view of the sky right in the direction of flight of the planet earth around the sun. As raindrops patter against the windshield of a car, then the meteors hit the atmosphere.

However, could the weather all the romantics who have been waiting expectantly on the star scale flow to wish luck to make a spanner in the works. For a clear view of the sky spectacle it is, according to the German Weather Service is unlikely to give (DWD).

clouds with gaps

only to kick off the weekend will be the clouds over Germany have gaps, said the meteorologist Dorothea Paetzold. The largest gaps are in the south and east. The moon barely disturbs the view: It stands as a thin crescent in the sky and has been going on before midnight

.

advises Jürgen Schulz of the Association of star friends to search for observing an open space without interfering light outside of cities. Particularly impressive was the play in the high mountains.

but

The Perseids were no fireworks. Open eyes and patience should therefore bring Shooting Star Gazer – “and always have ready a few wishes, then you will be rewarded.”

60 kilometers per second

The narrow light flashes occur when dust particles burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere. They produce about 100 kilometers altitude glowing ionized air hoses. The “Perseids” apply with a speed of 60 kilometers per second as fast meteors. They move into long strips across the sky.

meteor streams are named after the constellation from which they appear to come – such as the Perseids from the constellation Perseus. They are largely resolved debris of comet Swift-Tuttle. Device the earth in its orbit around the sun in such a debris cloud, there will be meteor-showers.

The vast majority of cosmic particles is quite small specs of dust-up about tennis ball size. Each ray of light astronomers called Meteor.

In the vernacular, the Perseids are also known as “Lawrence’s tears” known: The early Christian saint was born on 10 August 258 executed in Rome. According to legend, fall every year around this time his tears of fire from the sky.

Photo: PA The Perseid meteor streams are among the most striking of the present

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