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Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Perseids Meteor Shower 2024

 The peak night of the Perseids Meteor Shower in 2024 is August 12 which is Tisha B'Av this year. There is also a waxing moon which gets bigger and brighter every night after new moon on the 6th. Its bright light blocks the light of dimmer objects like meteors. The moon sets before midnight up to the 12th but one hour later each night thereafter. Starting August 13 the moon is first quarter and starts getting quite bright, blocking the light of dimmer meteors.  Best viewing of the meteor shower is after midnight. Most families don't stay through the wee hours of the night but you are welcome to.

The radiating effect of meteors all originating from a single location in the sky called the "radiant". In the case of the Perseids Meteor Shower from the constellation Perseus, the hero who rescued Andromeda.

So what will you see? On a typical year on the peak night many meteors. You probably read numbers of 60-100 per hour, making this one of the best meteor showers of the year. But honestly I have only seen that many once in my life from Mitzpe Ramon. Off peak, which is about 2:00am on the morning of August 13 (Tisha B'Av this year), there are still many more meteors seen than on the average night (maybe 1-2 during a 2 hour star tour, maybe none) but nothing like the peak. The more days off the peak the fewer number of meteors. In addition the waxing moon starts to interfere after August 13. 

As you can see, the peak of the Perseids is very steep, rapidly falling off on either side of the peak on the early morning of August 13.

We will not be going out on Tisha B'Av, so the best time to view on our star tour is August 6 (new moon) through August 11. The closer to August 11 the better. 

This year Mitzpe Ramon turns off its lights on August 11, although we go into the Ramon Crater to observe. August 13-15 are good but because of the waxing moon not as good as August 6-11. August 11 is the best alternative to August 12. 

To get information and book a tour: https://www.bookeo.com/astronomyisrael 

If you would like to see an animation of the way the Earth's orbit intersects the debris trail of Comet Swift-Tuttle, which creates the Perseids Meteor Shower, click here. The Earth's orbit is blue: https://www.meteorshowers.org/view/Perseids

The most popular place to view the meteor shower is the Ramon Crater but literally tens of thousands of people come there on a good year. Well known dark locations are usually crowded everywhere.

Keep on looking up!☝🏻

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