Great Balls of Fire in the Sky

This year’s Perseid meteor shower has already begun. The annual celestial light show runs for several weeks, but the peak this year is expected the nights of Aug. 12 and 13.

According to NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office, the Perseid meteor shower produces more fireballs than any other annual shower, earning it the title of “fireball champion.”

During the peak, you can expect to see more than 100 meteors per hour. This year the peak takes place with an added advantage of a waxing moon.

Interested observers should look to the skies from 10:30 pm to 4:30 am on the nights of Aug. 12 and 13.

The darkest park on the peninsula, Newport State Park, will have guest astronomers from the University of Wisconsin – Madison with telescopes for a Universe in the Park session at 8:30 pm on Aug. 12, followed by Perseid viewing. Meet at Lot 3.

Ten Facts About Meteors

1. A meteor shower occurs when the Earth passes through the trail of debris left by a comet or asteroid.

2. Meteors are bits of rocks and ice ejected from comets as they move in their orbits about the sun.

3. A meteor that reaches the ground it is called a meteorite.

4. Meteor showers get their names from the constellation where their radiant is located. Perseid comes from Perseus, hence the name Perseid.

5. Comets continuously eject material with each passage around the sun; this replenishes the shower meteoroids.

6. Approximately 30 meteor showers occur each year that are visible to observers on Earth. Some of these showers have been around longer than 100 years. For example, the Perseid meteor shower, which occurs each year in August, was first observed about 2000 years ago and recorded in the Chinese annals.

7. Meteors are sometimes observed with red, yellow or green trails. The colors are caused by the ionization of molecules – such as oxygen, which appears to be green.

8. A fireball is a meteor that is brighter than the planet Venus.

9. Radar indicates there are 12,000 meteors on a given night that are about the size of a piece of dust.

10. The International Space Station has shielding to protect it from meteors up to an inch wide.

 Source: NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office