Night of stars in 2015, but the fact is that these shooting stars? – The Huffington Post

SPACE – Have you prepared your wishes? Allow in-tens if you plan to observe the sky this weekend because it is the famous Night of shooting stars.

Every year the summer sky was filled with rain meteors. Not just this weekend (Night of stars designated by convention), but from July 17 until August 24, our night sky is invaded by the Perseids. The “Tears of St. Lawrence” are so called because they all seem to come from the constellation Perseus, which is located here:

The Perseids are one of the oldest swarms of meteors in the world (in living memory Man) is already observed in the year 36 in China. When meteors fall into the atmosphere at extremely high speed (up to 40 km / s), they burn up and disintegrate, leaving behind a luminous trail.

A comet Originally

But these shooting stars do not come from the constellation Perseus as one might believe. Where, then? That is known only since 1867, thanks to the astronomer Giovanni Schiaparell. They actually come from a comet Swift-Tuttle, discovered a few years earlier

This passes all ready to orbit the Earth every 130 years.. His last visit was in 1992. While some astronomers fear that she one day collide with our planet or moon, the fact remains that it leaves behind a lot of debris.

The meteors that burn up in the atmosphere and allow us to make a wish are nothing else than the remains of Swift-Tuttle, which roughly follow its path, as shown in this diagram of NASA, identified by Space Weather.

In red is the Earth. We can also see its orbit and the other planets of the solar system: small concentric yellow circles. Purple is the orbit of the Swift-Tuttle comet, which almost crosses paths with the blue planet. Finally, in green, are the orbits of 300 debris of the comet, the famous meteors photographed by Nasa. These data were collected in less than 20 days in 2012, during the Night of the stars.

See also:

• How to enjoy the night stars with your smartphone

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• This is what looks like the ghost a star

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