Every year in August, Earth goes through a cloud of debris in space that was left long ago by a Comet Swift-Tuttle. The debris is expected to be closer to the earth’s atmosphere this year which would result in a spectacular meteor shower. This shower starts from the 1st of August and lasts till the mid part of the month. But on the night of the 11th, Earth will pass through its densest areas and will allow us to look at the meteors at night with the naked eye. No telescopes or binoculars necessary.
“Forecasters are predicting a Perseid outburst this year with double normal rates on the night of Aug. 11-12,” said Bill Cooke with NASA’s Meteoroid Environments Office in Huntsville, Alabama. “Under perfect conditions, rates could soar to 200 meteors per hour.”
The comet Swift-Tuttle orbits the sun every 133 years and leaves a trail of particles behind which are the Perseid meteors. They are called Perseid because they come out of the Perseus constellation.
But in some years, Jupiter’s immense gravitational pulls in a few more of some distant dust trails closer to the orbit and Earth, causing a denser meteor shower visible in the night sky.
These meteors travel at a blasting speed of 132,000 mph. At that speed, even a particle of dust makes a slight streak. These meteoroids pose no threat to Earth because they burn-out at the atmosphere long before ever reaching ground. But they are a huge threat to spacecraft and satellites.
