Even with the cloudy skies during the day, the nights were clear to watch the annual Perseid meteor shower which peaked on Aug. 11 and Aug. 12.
Astronomy lecturer, Stan Shadick, from the Physics and Engineering Physics Department at the University of Saskatchewan says that the meteor shower is from the earth passing through “a river of dust in space,” says Shadick, left by the comet, Swift-Tuttle.
“Comets are big chunks of ice but usually have embedded in them rocks, pebbles, and sand type solid particles.”
The core of this comet is 26 kilometres in diameter and has a wide orbit around the sun, says Shadick. As it draws closer to the sun, the surface area is vaporized which creates the comets gas tail but also releases a dust tail that keeps moving through space.
“Over many orbits around the sun, what tends to be produced is an orbiting river of particles, sand, grit, pebbles sized particles that follows the orbit of the comet itself.”
Every year at the first half of August, the Earth takes several days to pass through this river.
Shadick estimates that the meteors travel about 60 kilometres per second and burn up in the atmosphere.
What people are seeing when watching the light of a meteor is the column of air around the particles heating up to the point where it fluoresces and creates light, the same reaction as a fluorescent light bulb.
There is very little chance that any particles are big enough to actually reach the earth’s surface before being burned up in the atmosphere so people should not worry about any collisions that could occur.
The shower itself continues until Aug. 24 with some meteors still being visible, only less frequent.
Shadick says there is about a dozen meteor events that take place every year with the Perceid shower being the best one.
Light pollution can wreak havoc on viewing pleasures but he said in Humboldt, there should not be much of a problem for those who want to take in the show.
Finding a comfortable spot on the ground in a darker area ensures the widest and best viewing experience, advises Shadick.
