Over the coming nights, be sure to look to the sky, as the peak of one of the most active and impressive meteor showers is taking place: the Perseids.
Earth is no stranger to falling dust and rock particles, remnants from the formation of our solar system. As they enter the atmosphere, the (normally) small particles burn up and create the telltale sign of a “shooting star.”
But there are larger bodies left over from our formation: asteroids and comets. And every so often, Earth passes through the stream of debris they leave behind as they orbit the sun. This is what gives us meteor showers, a time where far more of that dust burns up in our atmosphere, creating a wonderful light show.
While there’s a major meteor shower every month, there’s nothing quite like the Perseid shower for those in the northern hemisphere, with the warm summer nights and better chances of clear skies. And this year, Canada is in a particularly favourable position for the peak night of Aug. 12–13.
Every year in mid-August, Earth passes through particles spread along the orbit of Comet Swift-Tuttle. (Sky & Telescope)
“The Perseids this year are ideal from a sky standpoint,” said Peter Brown, professor and Canada Research Chair at Western University’s physics and astronomy department in London, Ont.
“The moon is only a few days before new, so we’ve got dark skies. The peak basically favours North America this year. So the early morning hours of Sunday the 13th, and the night of the 12th should be right in the middle of peak Perseid activity.”
Though the peak occurs on Saturday night into Sunday morning, you can still keep an eye out in the coming days.
‘Worth staying up for’
The Perseids are a result of Earth plowing through debris shed from Comet Swift-Tuttle, which is roughly 30-kilometres in diameter. It last swung by Earth in 1992, and while it has come relatively close to the planet in the past, it’s important to note that it poses no danger to us.
Like most meteor showers, the Perseids gets its name from its radiant, or the constellation from which the meteors appear to be originating, in this case, Perseus.
But that doesn’t mean you need to look in the direction of the constellation to see meteors: You simply need to look up. And no equipment is needed, just your own eyes.
Try this interactive map showing how Earth passes through the meteor shower:
“You should easily be able to see one meteor a minute in the early morning hours of Sunday, Aug. 13,” said Brown. “There should be a fair number of bright meteors — the Perseids are known for quite a good number of fireballs … It’s a good display, it’s worth staying up for.”
Perseus rises in the east at roughly 10 p.m. local time, but the peak of the meteor shower lasts the entire night. The best time to catch the most meteors is in the wee hours of Sunday morning, before the sun rises.
However, if you’re not a night owl — or prefer not to set your alarm for an early wake-up — you could still be in for a treat Saturday night. That’s because, although the radiant will be low on the eastern horizon at around 10 p.m., the Perseids tend to do something spectacular.
“You see grazing meteors, meteors that are coming in at very low entry angle, and they sweep over the whole sky,” said Brown. “And they’re some of the most spectacular things you’ll see, because they last — still only a few tenths of a second — but they stream over a huge part of the sky. So that’s sort of the intro to the fireworks, and then it sort of ramps up throughout the night and it’ll just get progressively better right through until dawn.”
Meteor viewing tips
As always, the key to getting the most out of your Perseid-viewing experience is to get to as dark a location as possible. The darker the sky, the fainter meteors you’ll be able to see. Put away your cellphones, as the light will make it more difficult for your eyes to adapt to the dark. And just try to keep your eyes skyward.
The challenge comes for those who live in cities, which is most Canadians. But that’s the great thing about the Perseids: They tend to produce fireballs, or extremely bright meteors. Still, if you can get to a park or even your backyard, should you have one, turn off the lights and look up.
So, how many can you expect? Western University launched its new new Perseids meteor monitoring website, which allows the public to get a better idea.
Most meteor showers produce anywhere from five to 50 meteors an hour under ideal conditions (clear, moonless skies with the radiant overhead), referred to as the ZHR Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR). But there are a few — including the Perseids — that can produce 100 to 150 meteors an hour.
The website gives an idea of the ZHR over a 24–hour period. But, for city-dwellers in particular, Brown advises to cut that number in half.
“It’ll probably be one every three or four minutes or five minutes,” he said. “So it’s not going to be a lot. But you’ll see the brighter ones.”
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
