Star rain in August what to do. The brightest star rain of the year will take place on Saturday night. Astrological predictions for star rain

The inhabitants of the Earth will be able to watch a beautiful and exciting star show on Friday. The Perseid stream, which decorates the sky every August, will be denser than usual this year, so the sight will be truly mesmerizing. The inhabitants of all countries of the Northern Hemisphere will be able to enjoy the astronomical phenomenon with the naked eye. The main thing is to choose an open space so that tall buildings and trees do not interfere with the view.

Star rain traditionally falls on planet Earth in August. And this phenomenon can be observed without optical instruments. The main thing is to get away from the illuminated city streets and be patient.

The Perseids are a meteor shower that has been known since antiquity - almost two thousand years. Chinese, Japanese, and European chronicles report about it. As soon as it was not called - "Rain of Fire" or "Tears of St. Lawrence", because in Italy the August starfall coincides with the celebration of the day of this saint. It was only in the 19th century that scientists explained what meteors really are.

“At a high speed, about 60 kilometers per second, a grain of sand, small, smaller than a thimble, flies into the Earth's atmosphere. But it flies very quickly and therefore, colliding with our air, it quickly evaporates, turns into a cloud of plasma. But we see this plasma from a distance about 100, or even 150 kilometers. Can you imagine what a bright flash ", - explained Vladimir Surdin, senior researcher at the Sternberg State Astronomical Institute, associate professor of the physics department of Moscow State University.

These grains of sand are particles of comets. Their icy bodies heat up, approaching the Sun, and together with the steam, all the fine dust is carried away from the surface, forming that very romantic plume.

"Along the comet's orbit, these particles fill a kind of pipe. And when our Earth passes through this pipe, naturally, there are more particles, and they more often hit the Earth's atmosphere," said Vladimir Surdin.

Earthlings observe the Perseids when the orbit of our planet falls into a meteor cloud - the tail of the most beautiful comet called Swift-Tuttle. At the same time, meteors are not dangerous at all. Such particles, unlike large and heavy meteorites, simply do not reach the ground, they burn up even at high altitudes. And in general, in recent years, meteors have not really pampered earthlings.

"We observed last year, went to the Ryazan region, to the black zone. And at the peak we lay all night in sleeping bags and counted, did not sleep. We had, in my opinion, the record was 17 meteors an hour," said the director of the observatory Sokolniki Park Rustam Bekbulatov.

This year, scientists promise, the stellar rain should be especially bright - up to 150 meteors per hour. Astronomers around the world are already observing him and even suggest that if cloud cover and precipitation prevented the Perseids from seeing, join the international video broadcast. The maximum activity, by the way, is expected on the night of August 12-13, then the intensity will decrease. However, as luck would have it, you can swim in the starry rain and make wishes until the end of the last summer month.

Julia Bogomanshina, Ilya Ushakov, TV Center.

The Perseid Starfall is the brightest meteor shower of the year. We can observe it in the sky as the Earth passes through the dense dust trail of Comet Swift-Tuttle. Typically, the flow of the Perseids is 40-60 "shooting stars" per hour. But this year 2016 will be special - a section of a meteor shower will pass near the Earth, which, thanks to the influence of Jupiter, has moved much closer to Earth's orbit than usual. Experts predict that the number of meteors in 2016 could exceed 200 per hour! This means that by raising our eyes to the sky, we can see from 3 to 5 "shooting stars" every minute. It will be a real star rain!

Where and when to see the Perseid starfall in August 2016

The Perseid meteor shower will peak in the evening and night of August 12-13, 2016. The maximum number of particles burning in the atmosphere (more than 200 per hour) can be observed in the entire northern hemisphere from 6 pm to 8 pm on August 12. So

For those who are a little familiar with astronomy, we recommend finding the constellation Perseus in the sky - it is from this part of the sky that "shooting stars" will rush to the earth in August 2016. It is quite easy to find the constellation Perseus. To begin with, we will find the well-known Ursa Major bucket in the sky (in the evenings in August, it "hangs" low in the northwestern part of the sky). Further, through the two extreme stars of the Big Dipper bucket, we draw a mental straight up, where we find the Polar Star. Let's remember its position in the sky and return to the big bucket, to any star of its handle. Now we draw a mental straight line from any star of the handle of the Big Dipper's bucket through the North Star and find a constellation similar in shape to the Latin letter W. This is the constellation Cassiopeia, which is adjacent to Perseus. The constellation Perseus itself is located just below.

You don't need any instruments to observe stargazing, on the contrary, binoculars reduce your field of view and will only be a hindrance. For observations, it is necessary to find a place located away from bright light sources and giving the maximum view of the sky.

How to make a wish during a starfall

Shooting stars have always been shrouded in a huge number of different signs and superstitions. Each of us from childhood knows that when a star falls, it is imperative to make the most intimate wish, and it will certainly come true. The legends that have come down to us say that every person in the world has his own star. It lights up in the sky when a person is born, and after his death, she hastens to fall to the ground and go out. At this moment, she fulfills any desire made by a person. Well, the Perseid starfall provides us with the opportunity to make even a few wishes on these magical August nights.

So how do you make a wish for a shooting star to make it come true? The first and most important rule is that you need to make a wish alone and not tell anyone about what you have made. Go out alone to a quiet place, face east and gaze up at the sky for a shooting star. The most important thing is to notice it, and then say it to yourself, if you are sure that no one hears your desire, you can also out loud.

Even now, when science has long explained that a shooting star is not a star at all, but just a speck of dust burning up in the atmosphere, desires very often come true. After all, in order for the plan to come true, you just need to think about it correctly and add a little heavenly magic and a lot of faith. Believe in the best omens - and let your good wishes come true!

That night, the inhabitants of the Northern Hemisphere could watch an incredible fall of stars in its beauty and scale. Our planet passes through a very dense stream of Perseids, and if usually during this period you can see dozens of luminous meteorites, then this year - hundreds per hour.

Make a wish! Last night, this could have been done without ceasing - the bright flashes did not stop until dawn. These days, residents of the entire Northern Hemisphere are watching the richest meteor shower. Someone manages to shoot this on video - it turns out especially effectively if you speed up the picture a little. It is better to admire this spectacle away from the city, where the light of lanterns or windows does not interfere. And so that the eyes get used to the darkness, scientists advise, without stopping, to peer into the sky for about 10-15 minutes.

Comet Swift-Tuttle leaves sparkling sparks in the sky, and they themselves are called Perseids in honor of the constellation Perseus. It is there that the epicenter is located - scientifically, the radiant - from which the meteors fly. But it is better to look not directly at the constellation, but a little to the south or west, then visually the meteor shower seems brighter.

For several days in a row, you can see not even rain, but a shower of meteors. True, real showers spoiled the impression on the inhabitants of some regions of Russia, but in places where the weather was clear, the stream is so dense that up to two hundred Perseids fly through the sky per hour - this is almost twice as much as a year or two ago. The thing is that this year, at the moment when the Earth crosses the comet's orbit, our planet comes as close as possible to the core of this celestial body. The number of fiery particles there is much higher than in the tail. This is why more meteors get into the atmosphere than usual.

“These are very small bodies. The size of a fraction of a gram, consisting mainly of stones. Particles sweep through the atmosphere at a very high speed - up to 70 kilometers per second. At such a speed, any substance, even metal, begins to simply evaporate and glow brightly at the same time, ”explains a postgraduate student of the Astrophysics Department of the State Astronomical Institute of Moscow State University. Lomonosov Dmitry Kolesnikov.

The speed is so high - 200 times the speed of the fastest aircraft - that observing the Perseids through a telescope is pointless. Astrophysicists simply do not have time to detect meteors. Therefore, they use a wide angle camera. And if meteors are not dangerous for humans, then such studies help to predict and prevent accidents in space.

"These particles can shatter solar panels or damage the skin, thereby incapacitating spacecraft," says Anna Kartasheva, a junior researcher at the Institute of Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Not a single spacecraft has suffered from the current Perseid stream. The peak of meteor activity was today at three o'clock in the morning. And now it is on the decline. However, it will be possible to observe the flashes in the sky until August 18.

Residents of Cheboksary will witness the most romantic astronomical phenomenon - star rain. To the ground . We have compiled a list of the best places to see it in the city.

In the coming August nights, residents of Chuvashia will be able to watch star showers from the constellation Perseus. As noted by astronomer Eduard Vazhorov, the peak of Perseid activity will occur on the night of August 12-13.

The best time for observation is from 22.45 to 01.30, he says. - The most intense stellar rain is expected this year. The frequency of the current meteor shower is over 200 meteors per hour. This is much brighter than last year.

Where to see?

Astronomers it is advised to watch the Perseids outside the city so that bright street lighting does not interfere with seeing the unique heavenly show in all its glory. But not every Cheboksary resident has the opportunity to leave the city. Therefore, we have compiled a list of places where you can contemplate the rain of stars:

• Central Beach,
• Novoselsky beach,
• memorial complex "Victory",
• high-rise roofs (if exits are open),
• territory near the river port,
• Trans-Volga region.

What to take with you?

Meteoric the Perseid stream is best observed with the naked eye. If you want, you can take wide-angle binoculars for a closer look at the celestial show.

August the nights are getting cooler, therefore. A folding chair or rug (blanket) will not hurt either. Still, it is much more convenient to look at the stars while sitting. Formulate your cherished wish in advance in order to make it during a shooting star.

Will you go watch the starry rain?Write in the comments under the news

Also Be sure to check the weather forecast before going out. By the way, forecasters predict that the weather will be clear on the night of August 12-13.

Recall that the meteors will fly from the direction of the constellation Perseus. Therefore, in order to see the star rain, it is necessary to find this constellation in the night sky. (Map of the starry sky from zebra-tv.ru).