Perseids 2016: where, when and how to watch the meteor shower in Russia told by astronomers.
A colorful meteor shower from the Perseid stream these days has approached its peak, and, according to experts, this year the meteor shower in August 2016 will be almost twice as strong as usual.
Starfall in August 2016 VIDEO
To observe the Perseid meteor shower this night, Sergey Smirnov, Senior Researcher at the Pulkovo Observatory, said that in order to observe the Perseid meteor shower on the night of August 12-13, 2016, it is better to go to an open area outside the city, and the optimal time for observation is from midnight to midnight. night.
"It's best to look farther away from the cities, so all summer residents, all tourists, all travelers find themselves in the most advantageous position. Somewhere in the sea, lake waters, in a forest clearing - these are the best positions. And in the city we see the beauty of urbanization," quotes Life expert.
According to the scientist, residents of Moscow, Voronezh and Crimea have more opportunities to see starfall due to longer and darker nights compared to the northern regions. Although the weather is clear in St. Petersburg now, so the residents of the city will also be able to enjoy a grandiose spectacle.
“The situation has changed due to previous encounters of the meteor ring with large planets. The clot that comes to us by the end of July and all of August has changed its orientation towards more particle collisions,” the astronomer said.
The inhabitants of the Earth will be able to watch a beautiful and exciting star show on Friday. The Perseid shower that graces the skies every August will be denser than usual this year, making the spectacle truly mesmerizing. Residents of all countries of the Northern Hemisphere will be able to enjoy the astronomical phenomenon with the naked eye. The main thing is to choose an open space so that tall buildings and trees do not interfere with the view.
Star rain traditionally falls on planet Earth in August. And you can observe this phenomenon without optical instruments. The main thing is to get away from the illuminated streets of the city and be patient, reports.
The Perseids are a meteor shower that has been known since antiquity - almost two thousand years. It is reported by Chinese, Japanese, and European chronicles. As soon as it was not called - "Rain of Fire" or "Tears of St. Lawrence", since in Italy the August meteor shower coincides with the celebration of this saint's day. And only in the 19th century did scientists explain what meteors really are.
"At a high speed, about 60 kilometers per second, a grain of sand, small, smaller than a thimble, flies into the Earth's atmosphere. But it flies very quickly and therefore, colliding with our air, it quickly evaporates, turns into a cloud of plasma. But we see this plasma from a distance about 100 or even 150 kilometers. Can you imagine what a bright flash, "explained Vladimir Surdin, senior researcher at the Sternberg State Astronomical Institute, associate professor at the Faculty of Physics of Moscow State University.
These grains of sand are particles of comets. Their icy bodies heat up, approaching the Sun, and together with steam, all the fine dust is carried away from the surface, forming that very romantic plume.
"Along the comet's orbit, these particles fill a kind of tube. And when our Earth passes through this tube, naturally, there are more particles, and they hit the Earth's atmosphere more often," said Vladimir Surdin.
Earthlings observe the Perseids when the orbit of our planet falls into a meteor cloud - the tail of the most beautiful of the comets called Swift-Tuttle. At the same time, meteors are not at all dangerous. Unlike large and heavy meteorites, such particles simply do not reach the earth, they burn out at a high altitude. And in general last years meteors do not spoil earthlings very much.
“Last year we observed, went to the Ryazan region, to the black zone. And at the peak, we lay all night in sleeping bags and counted, did not sleep. We had a record there, in my opinion, of 17 meteors per hour,” said the director of the observatory Sokolniki Park Rustam Bekbulatov.
This year, scientists promise, the star shower should be especially bright - up to 150 meteors per hour. Astronomers around the world are already watching him and even offer, if clouds and precipitation prevented him from seeing the Perseids, to join the international video broadcast. The maximum activity, by the way, is expected on the night of August 12-13, then the intensity will decrease. However, if you're lucky, you can swim in the starry rain and make wishes until the end of the last summer month.
Julia Bogomanshina, Ilya Ushakov, "TV Center".
The Perseid Starfall grants wishes!
Look at the night sky and you can see one of the biggest and brightest starfalls in the last few years! The "culprit" of the celebration is the Perseid meteor shower. Weather permitting, you can watch the meteor shower at least every night until August 22, 2016. However, expect the peak from August 12 to 13. Astronomers say that this night the sky will be illuminated by a real star shower... it's time to get magical!
Starfall of desires
How would you react to a shooting star? A wish! And for the second? A wish! And on the twelfth? A wish! What about twenty-two? ... Oh, I would have dried up after the first ten. And all why? Many different wants leads to a big mess. As you "dream" everything, then you yourself will not understand what it was. There is neither confidence in the fulfillment of desires, nor an inner feeling that now it will definitely come true. How to be?
Make one wish! Sit comfortably and gaze at the stars. Turn each star into a magical meditation for one dream. For example, a star - "I love and am loved", another star - "we are so happy together", another star - "I melt from his kisses", again a star - "we talk about everything in the world!" and so on. Enjoy the dream, immerse yourself in it. And give its embodiment to starfall ...
By the way, while the Perseid is in the sky, on another night you can do magic again on this or already on another dream.
Money Starfall
Everything that falls from the sky, let it fall into our hands and ... bring money big and small. And what, and to starfall is easily applicable. Did you see that the star fell? We supply a palm and three pockets, saying: "To the money!" Did you see another? Lost the second pocket.
Believe me, money will suddenly materialize in your reality very soon!
Victorious Sandals
Have you read ancient Greek myths? If not, then you definitely heard about Zeus. So Perseus is his son. It seems that astronomers were delighted with the feat of Perseus (he saved the world from Medusa Gorgon) and they named an entire constellation after him. Yes, we are talking about the very constellation Perseus, from which the Perseids are already visible.
Do you know what detail I remember most from his feat? Winged sandals! There, of course, he also had another magical arsenal, but there would be no sandals if he had not defeated the Gorgon. So maybe this is exactly what we need?
In general, if you need to win in anything (competitions, interviews, exams, etc.), charge your sandals!
Fortunately, summer is in the yard, which means there should be no problems with sandals. It is very important that they are yours, and old or new, flowered or plain - it does not matter.
On any night of the Perseid Starfall, tie a thread (rope, lace) to each sandal and hang them by these threads on the same clothesline (beam, branch, etc.) on the balcony (outdoors). And say: "Perseus won and I win!" Let the sandals absorb this magical winged effect until the morning.
In order to activate the magic for yourself, be sure to put on and walk around in your "winged" sandals the next day. At the same time, mentally scroll through your victory in your head for at least a few minutes. For example, you can imagine how you passed an exam or successfully passed an interview. And then boldly go "to battle" ("you can go there" in any other shoes).
Useful information: according to experts, it can take about 30 minutes for human eyes to get used to the dark. Therefore, if you do not see anything, then you need time to "calibrate", that is, look at the sky and wait.
Anastasia Volkova for the site
Cheboksary residents will witness the most romantic astronomical phenomenon - star rain. To the ground . We have compiled a list of the best places to watch it in the city.
In the coming On August nights, the inhabitants of Chuvashia will be able to observe star showers from the constellation Perseus. As astronomer Eduard Vazhorov notes, the peak of Perseid activity will occur on the night of August 12-13.
The best time for observation is from 22.45 to 01.30, he says. - The most intense stellar rain is expected this year. The frequency of the current meteor shower is more than 200 meteors per hour. It's much brighter than last year.
Where to see?
Astronomers It is advised to watch the Perseids outside the city so that bright street lighting does not interfere with seeing the unique celestial show in all its glory. But not every Cheboksary citizen has the opportunity to leave the city. Therefore, we have compiled a list of places where you can see the star shower:
- central beach,
- Novoselsky beach,
- Memorial complex "Victory"
- roofs of skyscrapers (if exits are open),
- the area around the river port,
- Zavolzhye.
What to bring?
Meteoric The Perseid stream is best observed with the naked eye. If you wish, you can take wide-angle binoculars to get a closer look at the celestial show.
August the nights are getting cooler, so . A folding chair or rug (plaid) will not interfere either. Still, sitting up to look at the stars is much more convenient. Formulate your cherished wish in advance to make it during a shooting star.
Are you going to watch the star rain?Write in the comments under the news
Also Be sure to check the weather forecast before leaving. By the way, weather forecasters predict that the night from 12 to 13 August will be clear weather.
Recall that meteors will fly from the direction of the constellation Perseus. Therefore, in order to see star rain, you need to find this constellation in the night sky. (Map of the starry sky from the site zebra-tv.ru).
In the coming August nights, "star showers" from the constellation Perseus await residents of the entire Northern Hemisphere of the Earth
The peak of activity of the Perseid meteor shower falls on August 12-13, on this night the number of meteors reaches 100 per hour, but in 2016, according to the forecasts of the IMO (International Meteor Organization), up to 150 meteors per hour are expected, according to the Science and Life magazine website.
As the publication points out, there are several reasons for the increase in activity. First, the Earth will cross the dense part of the Perseid stream, which has been shifted into Earth's orbit by the influence of Jupiter. Jupiter exerted a gravitational influence on the particles of the cometary remnant, pushing the Perseid stream a little closer to Earth's orbit. Such a burst of Perseid activity, caused by the influence of Jupiter, occurs once every 11-12 years.
Secondly, the Earth will come close to the two trails of the progenitor comet Perseids, which were ejected to it in 1862 and 1479. This will cause two bursts of Perseid maximum activity. The first, caused by the trail of the 1862 comet, is expected on August 12 at 01:34 Moscow time, the second on August 12 at 02:23 Moscow time, it is caused by the trail of the 1479 comet.
“The Perseid meteor shower has been known to mankind for about two thousand years. The first mention of them is contained in the Chinese historical annals dating back to 36 AD, when "more than a hundred meteors flared up in the morning." It is officially believed that the discoverer of the annual Perseid meteor shower is the Belgian mathematician, astronomer, meteorologist Adolf Ketele, who reported this spectacle in August 1835. The number of meteors flashing during each hour was first calculated in 1839. Maximum amount meteors in one hour then amounted to 160 pieces, ”says astronomer, employee of the Moscow Planetarium Lyudmila Koshman.
The origin of the Perseids is the passage of the Earth through a plume of dust particles released by Comet Swift-Tuttle. The comet takes 133 years to complete its orbit. Each time, approaching the maximum to the Sun, the comet melts, due to which there is an increase in the number of cometary particles in its plume. Accordingly, the years closest to this event delight earthly observers with a sharp increase in the number of “shooting stars”. The name Perseids comes from the name of the constellation Perseus, from which, if you look closely, these "shooting stars" fly out. The region where the meteors come out is called the radiant of the meteor shower.
Astronomers remind that no astronomical instruments are needed to observe a meteor shower - anyone can enjoy the night starry spectacle of summer. The Perseids are white meteors that sharply trace the sky. The glow of some especially bright meteors lasts up to several seconds.
