Spaceweather.com/Stojan Stojanovski
It's early August, and that means the annual Perseid meteor shower is active and about ready to peak. PanTelevision has reported on the first total sighting of one of the annual Perseids this year.
On Wednesday (August 10), users on a Russian social media site Dzhahn.info reported a rare sighting of flashes through the sky before the small meteor shattered into many pieces. The shooting star had made an unusual path across the sky, from northeast to southwest.
Dashva Vysta, from the weekly news site Vzglyad, was one of the first to post the images below, which seem to show the sighting in southeastern Belarus, between Novosibirsk and Minsk:
Although it's incredibly rare for a meteor to be seen on a regular basis, tonight's mass shooting stars and other outdoor phenomena can often be seen with the naked eye.
One of the best locations. No glasses required. #Perseid meteors shooting stars #TopTen @Vzglyad A post shared by Nikita Smirnov (@nikita_s) on Aug 9, 2017 at 8:38pm PDT
On Friday (Aug. 11), NASA Universe Live editor Emily Lakdawalla spoke with Dr. Elizabeth Barnes, an expert mainly in the southern hemisphere about how to spot Perseid meteors with the naked eye. Barnes first turned to reliable websites such as Spaceweather.com — a large international online resource for referring info on weather events — to connect her to Perseid user-submitted data.
"Not surprisingly, more observers are coming to us from the U.S., as most of the world will already be in full moon," she said. "In fact, this year I have spotted more Perseid meteors during the 'lunar conjunction' than I've seen every other year. They're pretty spectacular, especially if the moon is as bright as it was this past Monday (Aug. 9)."
Another bonus: "most astronomers are predicting that [the tiny Perseid meteor shower] will be higher this year than last year, probably between 50 and 60."
Your best bet? "Look at bright stars near the horizon. Perseid meteor showers are known, first and foremost, to occur radiant low and thus if you're lucky you can see them," she said. "All major locations will see these meteors, especially in dark skies with a flat horizon. They usually appear when the moon is very full or completely obscured — so look for them to peek out above or below the moon. It's that close."
It's early August, and that means the annual Perseid meteor shower is active and about ready to peak. PanTelevision has reported on the first total sighting of one of the annual Perseids this year.
On Wednesday (August 10), users on a Russian social media site Dzhahn.info reported a rare sighting of flashes through the sky before the small meteor shattered into many pieces. The shooting star had made an unusual path across the sky, from northeast to southwest.
Dashva Vysta, from the weekly news site Vzglyad, was one of the first to post the images below, which seem to show the sighting in southeastern Belarus, between Novosibirsk and Minsk:
Although it's incredibly rare for a meteor to be seen on a regular basis, tonight's mass shooting stars and other outdoor phenomena can often be seen with the naked eye.
One of the best locations. No glasses required. #Perseid meteors shooting stars #TopTen @Vzglyad A post shared by Nikita Smirnov (@nikita_s) on Aug 9, 2017 at 8:38pm PDT
On Friday (Aug. 11), NASA Universe Live editor Emily Lakdawalla spoke with Dr. Elizabeth Barnes, an expert mainly in the southern hemisphere about how to spot Perseid meteors with the naked eye. Barnes first turned to reliable websites such as Spaceweather.com — a large international online resource for referring info on weather events — to connect her to Perseid user-submitted data.
"Not surprisingly, more observers are coming to us from the U.S., as most of the world will already be in full moon," she said. "In fact, this year I have spotted more Perseid meteors during the 'lunar conjunction' than I've seen every other year. They're pretty spectacular, especially if the moon is as bright as it was this past Monday (Aug. 9)."
Another bonus: "most astronomers are predicting that [the tiny Perseid meteor shower] will be higher this year than last year, probably between 50 and 60."
Your best bet? "Look at bright stars near the horizon. Perseid meteor showers are known, first and foremost, to occur radiant low and thus if you're lucky you can see them," she said. "All major locations will see these meteors, especially in dark skies with a flat horizon. They usually appear when the moon is very full or completely obscured — so look for them to peek out above or below the moon. It's that close."
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