If you were awake in the wee hours of the morning and happened to look northward, you may have seen a fiery spectacle.
If you were awake in the wee hours of the morning and happened to look northward, you may have seen a fiery spectacle.
This is the peak time for viewing the shooting stars of Perseids. Every year around this time, when our earth passes through a certain stage in its orbit around the sun, it catches debris left over from the Swift-Tuttle comet.
The particles it leaves behind enter our atmosphere and burn up, producing the phenomena commonly known as a shooting star.
Kevin Govender of the South African Astronomical Observatory says, “They are little grains, left over from comets and they burn up because the earth hits them so fast.”
If you missed the display, you might have better luck tomorrow morning, although your chances are slimmer. But don’t stop looking skyward just yet!
Venus, Mars and Saturn will make a beautiful tight and bright triangular formation for the next week. “It will look cool with the crescent moon,” said Govender.
