https://youtu.be/FoATKHhE_rQ
nemesis maturity
Published on Jul 17, 2018
According to NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke, the Perseids are perhaps the most popular meteor shower of the year; and this year, they'll be the best shower of the year. This year during peak people should see about 70-90 meteors per hour, but in outburst years (such as in 2016) the rate can be between 150-200 meteors an hour. The meteor shower's peak will be visible both the nights of Aug. 11-12 and Aug. 12-13, Cooke said, but he's inclined this year to lean toward the night of Aug. 12-13 for the better show. (Both, however, should be spectacular.) "This year the moon will be near new moon, it will be a crescent, which means it will set before the Perseid show gets underway after midnight," Cooke told Space.com. "The moon is very favorable for the Perseids this year, and that'll make the Perseids probably the best shower of 2018 for people who want to go out and view it." The Perseids are rich in fireballs, so the show should be even better. Skywatchers looking out for the Perseids should also be able to see Mars (visible until about 4 a.m. local time) and Saturn (visible until about 2 a.m. local time); Venus and Jupiter both set before the Perseids are best viewed (9:30 p.m. and 11 p.m., respectively). Earth will pass through the path of Comet Swift-Tuttle from July 17 to Aug. 24, with the shower's peak — when Earth passes through the densest, dustiest area — occurring on Aug. 12. That means you'll see the most meteors in the shortest amount of time near that peak, but you can still catch some action from the famed meteor shower before or after that point. What causes the Perseids? Comet Swift-Tuttle is the largest object known to repeatedly pass by Earth; its nucleus is about 16 miles (26 kilometers) wide. It last passed nearby Earth during its orbit around the sun in 1992, and the next time will be in 2126. But it won't be forgotten in the meantime, because Earth passes through the dust and debris it leaves behind every year, creating the annual Perseid meteor shower. https://www.space.com/32868-perseid-m... http://earthsky.org/?p=165416 Clips, images credit: NAS/JPL, ESO, ESA/HUBBLE Music credit: YouTube Audio Library