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NASA is again once more with its month-to-month rundown of skywatching treats.
Taking middle stage in August is the Perseid meteor bathe, an annual occasion that’s set to peak in the midst of this month.
The bathe options so-called “capturing stars” that streak brightly throughout the evening sky, created on this case by tiny fragments from the particles stream of Comet Swift-Tuttle burning up in Earth’s ambiance.
“Though Perseids may be seen from mid-July by way of late August, the almost definitely time to see any is a few days on both aspect of the height,” NASA explains. “This 12 months the height falls on the evening of [Wednesday] August eleventh, and into the pre-dawn hours of August twelfth.” The house company describes this era as “prime time for the Perseids,” including that beneath suitably darkish skies you could possibly spot as many as one meteor per minute.
NASA’s video on the prime of this web page gives a number of tips about how greatest to catch the Perseid meteor bathe. You may also try this Digital Trends article providing extra detailed strategies on how greatest to view it.
It’s value including that if for no matter cause you possibly can’t get out to view the meteors, otherwise you’re caught in a location with excessive gentle air pollution that stops an honest view of the evening sky, then you might do the subsequent neatest thing and go to NASA’s livestream (extra particulars here) of the Perseids in a single day on Wednesday, August 11.
August can also be a very good month for recognizing Jupiter and Saturn — and regardless of their huge distance from Earth, you’ll be capable to spot each, or a minimum of the solar gentle that they mirror, with the bare eye.
NASA says August is “maybe the very best time this 12 months to get pleasure from viewing Jupiter and Saturn, as each planets attain opposition this month,” the time period used for when a planet is on the identical aspect of the photo voltaic system as Earth.
You’ll be capable to spot Jupiter and Saturn from sundown to dawn, with the planets reaching their highest level within the sky round midnight. Jupiter is less complicated to identify as a result of it’s brighter. When you’ve situated it, it is best to be capable to see Saturn a brief distance away. To make it simple, fire up one of these astronomy apps, a few of which use augmented actuality to point out you exactly what you’re within the evening sky.
Earlier than you peer as much as establish Jupiter, why not try this just lately launched flyby video of the planet and one in all its moons, captured by NASA’s Juno satellite tv for pc.
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