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Meteor spectacle to brighten Dubai sky this weekend
The rare phenomenon -- which is expected to begin on Friday and last until Sunday, August 13 -- generally shows about 80 meteors per hour, but, depending on the clarity of the sky, can sometimes show as many as 150.
The event stems from planet earth crossing the orbital path of Comet Swift-Tuttle, which occurs every year from July 17 to August 24. During the shower, debris from the comet litters the earth orbit, with the greatest density of rubble occurring only after the first week of August, when fragments of Comet Swift-Tuttle crash into the earth's atmosphere at 210,000km/hr.
In the event that the planet passes through a particularly dense clump of comet rubble, local stargazers and astronomy aficionados will be able to see an elevated number of meteors.
In Dubai, the Dubai Astronomy Group will be hosting an event on August 11 at the Al Thuraya astronomy centre in Dubai's Mishrif Park, followed by another at Showka Dam in Ras Al Khaimah on August 12.
The event in Dubai will begin at 8pm with an introduction talk, as well as tips on "astrophotography", an astro-film show, observation of planets through a telescope, a planetarium show, and gallery, and will close with how to observe the meteor shower through the naked eye and an app, which will occur around 10:30pm.
The RAK event will begin at 9pm, with meteor watchers being able to watch and capture the event until 2am. Those interested are being advised to make it to Showka themselves and bring food and beverages, as it is a remote area.NASA debunks rumors
"We wish this were true.but no such thing is going to happen," Bill Cooke, the head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center wrote on the official NASA blog.
"For one thing, the Perseids never reach storm levels (thousands of meteors per hour). At best, they outburst from a normal rate between 80-100 meteors per hour to a few hundred per hour," he added. "The best Perseid performance of which we are aware occurred back in 1993, when the peak Perseid rate topped 300 meteors per hour. Last year also saw an outburst of just over 200 meteors per hour."
This year, Cooke added, "enhanced rates" of about 150 meteors an hour are expected.
"But the increased number will be cancelled out by the bright Moon, the light of which will wash out the fainter Perseids. A meteor every couple of minutes is good, and certainly worth going outside to look, but it is hardly the "brightest shower in human history," he added.
reporters@khaleejtimes.com
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