Perseids meteor shower compilation. Photo: Wikimedia Commons/MLU Photos
The Perseid meteor shower (also known as the Perseids) will peak on Friday and Saturday, according to the Bronberg Weather Station in Pretoria.
Unfortunately, the Perseid meteor shower won’t be visible to those of us in the southern hemisphere, but fret not! There’s no reason to miss out on all the fun.
The Perseid meteor shower is an annual celestial event during which Earth passes through rock and ice debris left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle.
It’s one of the largest and most spectacular meteor showers with a 133.28-year orbital period. The comet paid us a visit back in December 1992, and won’t return until 12 July 2126.
In 2022, the Perseids are visible between 14 July to 24 August, peaking on 12 August. It produces up to 150 streaks per hour.
The much-anticipated celestial event will not be as bright as it was in 2021 – August’s Sturgeon full moon steals the spotlight this year.
ALSO READ: August Sturgeon Moon: Don’t miss the final supermoon of the year
Swift-Tuttle was discovered by Lewis Swift on 16 July 1862, and by Horace Parnell Tuttle on 19 July 1862. Today, it is classified as an Apollo-class asteroid.
It travels at a velocity of approximately 60 kilometres per hour and has been referred to by Gerrit L. Verschuur as the “single most dangerous object known to humanity”.
Why? Let’s put it this way: Remember that time when dinosaurs were wiped off the face of the Earth 66 million years ago?
That was the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. If Comet Swift-Tuttle were to hit Earth, it would be 27 times worse than that.
However, even though it “would be a very bad for Earth”, Donald Yeomans, a senior research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said it won’t happen any time soon.
A meteoroid or meteor is a space rock which enters Earth’s atmosphere, we often mistakenly refer to meteors as ‘shooting stars’.
The bright streak you see? That’s the meteor’s tail and it’s not a star, just hot air and gas. When a bunch of meteors enter our atmosphere, we call it a meteor shower.
NASA explains: “As a comet gets closer to the sun, some of its icy surface boils off, releasing lots of particles of dust and rock”.
“This comet debris gets strewn out along the comet’s path, especially in the inner solar system (where we live) as the sun’s heat boils off more and more ice and debris.”
There will be several meteor showers over the coming months – another shower in August, one in September, four in October, four in November and three in December.
However, only one would be worth the wait. The Geminids will peak on 14 December, and up to 120 streaks may potentially be visible per hour.
What’s more, we in the southern hemisphere would be in the prime seats for this one.
In other news, a ‘potentially hazardous’ asteroid will be passing by Earth today at roughly 33 000 kilometres per hour.
NOW READ: Potentially hazardous Asteroid to zip past Earth at 27x the speed of sound
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