Hardelot Nord-de-Calais first evening Perseids meteors France 100813 (20)
Just missed the sunset but saw the shooting stars. I knew that they were going to be in the skies until the 12th August. Been trying to see them. talked about it and turned around and they were there. Made my first evening in France special.
The Perseid meteor shower occurs in July and August as the earth orbits through the debris of the Swift-Tuttle comet. Chucks of debris - rocks made of iron-nickel and other minerals - gets pulled into the earth from our planet's gravity, which turns into balls of hot gas when entering Earth's atmosphere. The meteors entering the earth when darkness falls come from the constellation Perseus.
On August 12, when the meteor shower peaks at its brightest, over a hundred shooting stars, or "falling stars" will be seen per hour.
This year's star show is all the more special because the crescent moon, Jupiter and Venus will align together just as the Perseids peak. According to NASA, "The alignment occurs in the eastern sky before sunrise on the three mornings of highest meteor activity."
The meteors and comic debris entering into Earth are tiny. Some are as small as a grain of sand, but they are traveling at speeds of up to 160,000mph, which creates a "train or tail" when entering Earth's atmosphere
Hardelot Nord-de-Calais first evening Perseids meteors France 100813 (20)
Just missed the sunset but saw the shooting stars. I knew that they were going to be in the skies until the 12th August. Been trying to see them. talked about it and turned around and they were there. Made my first evening in France special.
The Perseid meteor shower occurs in July and August as the earth orbits through the debris of the Swift-Tuttle comet. Chucks of debris - rocks made of iron-nickel and other minerals - gets pulled into the earth from our planet's gravity, which turns into balls of hot gas when entering Earth's atmosphere. The meteors entering the earth when darkness falls come from the constellation Perseus.
On August 12, when the meteor shower peaks at its brightest, over a hundred shooting stars, or "falling stars" will be seen per hour.
This year's star show is all the more special because the crescent moon, Jupiter and Venus will align together just as the Perseids peak. According to NASA, "The alignment occurs in the eastern sky before sunrise on the three mornings of highest meteor activity."
The meteors and comic debris entering into Earth are tiny. Some are as small as a grain of sand, but they are traveling at speeds of up to 160,000mph, which creates a "train or tail" when entering Earth's atmosphere