On 01 Aug, 2021 By garyboyle@xplor...
Gas Giants and The Perseids
One of the best meteor showers is now underway. The Perseids runs from July 17 to August 24. According to Ottawa Centre’s Pierre Martin, “the peak of the Perseids producing about 90 meteors per hour will occur late afternoon on the 12th. Therefore the nights of Aug 11/12, as well as the 12/13, should reward you with 50 to 60 or more meteors per hour striking the atmosphere at 59 km/sec”. Pierre also says “a higher number of bright fireballs may be seen on nights before the peak rather than nights after”. Moonlight will not be a factor this year with the new moon on August 8. By contrast, next year’s Perseids takes place under a full moon, drastically reducing the hourly rate. This year's full Sturgeon Moon takes place on August 22.
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