NASA instruments or scientific knowledge are not required to observe the Perseids, one of the most awaited astronomical shows of the summer: to escape from light pollution in big cities, it is enough to stop looking at the mobile phone for about 10 minutes The The view adjusts to the darkness and it is a pleasure to look at the night sky. “We recommend viewing the meteor shower lying on a horizontal surface, because if you stand and look up for a long time, you get deadly neck pain,” jokes astrophysicist Javier Armentia, director of the Pamplona Planetary Astronomical Observatory in the Navarrese capital.
This meteor shower, also known as the Perseids, occurs from the second half of July to the end of August. Specifically, the astro show can only be seen at dawn on the night of August 12th to 13th, as reported by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC). This cosmic phenomenon, which sees more particles than usual colliding with Earth’s atmosphere, has its origins in the 26-kilometer-wide comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, discovered in 1862, according to astrophysicist Pablo Pérez González of CSIC’s Center for Astrobiology. And he adds: “The moon will be in the waning quarter that day, the new moon is on August 16, so 2023 will be very favorable to see the big summer meteor shower.”
The Perseids are the gas and solid particles that break away from the comet’s tail every 133 years on each of its orbits around the Sun. When Earth enters the cloud of dust that the comet leaves as a trail in space, the particles that enter Earth’s atmosphere are the summer meteor shower. Sometimes the particles are as small as a grain of sand, which, due to such a sudden impact on the atmosphere and the high temperature, disintegrate in fractions of a second and their flashing can be observed.
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Under optimal conditions of darkness and sky clarity, the average person can see between 50 and 100 shooting stars an hour, Armentia says. “It’s the night of the year when you will see more stars. There are people who expect a steady downpour,” explains the director, “but the right attitude to face them is to marvel at the few stars you can manage.” Even at the moment when When you look up at the sky, it’s wonderful.
It’s the night of the year with the most shooting stars; There are people who expect a steady downpour, but the right attitude is to be surprised
Javier Armentia, astrophysicist and director of the Pamplona Planetarium
Like every summer, Armentia organizes an event to popularize science, which this year will take place in the town of Puente de la Reina, a municipality 20 minutes from the capital, Pamplona. The site has worked with the observatory’s scientists to install a non-overhanging lighting network so that it is as sustainable as possible and less in conflict with the night, known as “special protection zones of the night sky,” explains the Scientist.
The initiative is part of the Starlight Foundation project, which was launched in 2007 by the IAC on La Palma. The most sparsely populated Spain has “significant potential” in the fight against light pollution, the astrophysicist points out: “Empty Spain is the one with the best sky, something valuable for stargazing.”
Night brightness increases by 10% per year, the composition shows the sky in different terrestrial environments depending on light pollution.NOIRLab/NSF/AURA, P. Marenfeld
Darkness is the best recommendation not to miss the heavenly spectacle. With this, Armentia joins the criticism of the increasing light pollution in cities and their surroundings in recent decades and the increase in private satellites in orbit, which hinder scientific work and observations. For the astrophysicist, this is a clear setback: “The quality of the sky has deteriorated since the 1990s; Even being able to see the Milky Way, people who are of legal age remember that when we went into town, but if you ask the little kids in the planetarium, they say no.”
A type of pollution that disrupts animal life, which includes human health, as constant exposure to light alters human circadian rhythms and gut microbiome. “We don’t proselytize, but the truth is that using the Perseids is a wonderful opportunity to talk about how beautiful the night sky is,” concludes the director of the observatory.
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