Sunday night, August 12th, will be the height of a "star shower". To observe this cyclical phenomenon, move away from bright places, go to the countryside or the beach, lie down and look at the sky…and start counting the shooting stars.
Well, it's not really about shooting stars, that is, falling from the sky, as the ancients thought, but about meteors.
According to João Retrê, from the Lisbon Astronomical Observatory (OAL), «the phenomenon that gives rise to this are meteoroids, small rocks that are in space and, when they enter the atmosphere, due to the friction they suffer, heat up and combust. This combustion emits the light that we see, which is the trail. This light is called a meteor».
Every year, in August, there is this «star shower», which, this time, takes place between the 17th of July and the 24th of August and has its day of maximum activity on the 12th of August.
This "rain" is also known as Perseids, because meteors are more visible in the constellation Perseus.
“This particular meteor shower is caused by comet Swift Tuttle. The comet, in its orbit around the Sun, leaves a trail. Earth ends up crossing the comet's orbit and catching with these meteoroids. Hence this meteor shower», explained João Retrê, in statements to tvi24.pt.
It is estimated that the number of meteors that fall is «110 per hour, on average». But this ideal observation only takes place in areas with dark skies, far from city lights.
This year, far from the cities, conditions are even favorable, because there is no Full Moon. All that remains is to hope that there are no clouds in the sky.
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