On the night of “shooting stars”. This year the conditions conducive to the observers – Polish Radio

This year the conditions conducive to observers. The nights are warm and cloudless, and observations will not be disturbed Moon – appears only in the sky for several minutes before sunrise.

 

– What seems to us shooting star, in fact, it is just a speck of dust, often no larger than a grain of sand. It falls into the Earth’s atmosphere and friction for it warms up, is burned, and trace this process we observe in the sky as short-lived, fast flash – explains Charles Wojcicki popularizer of astronomy with planetarium sky Copernicus – Copernicus Science Centre.

 

“Tears of St. Lawrence”

 

The Perseids are sometimes called “tears of St. Lawrence”, since August 10, that is, during the peak, it is the day of his martyrdom.

 

Most meteors can be seen when the Earth collides with a plume of gas and dust left by a comet. This happens every year in July and August, when our planet meets with the material left behind by the comet 109P / Swift-Tuttle. Earth its way through her braid, and its particles invade Earth’s atmosphere. – Meteor activity in cities is not so visible, because they disappear in the glow of the city, but the brightest, most attractive, certainly are visible. You can go to the park, sit in the square and the square, go up on the roof or balcony and patiently staring at the sky – says Wojcicki.

 

In Warsaw, the lights go out

The biggest in Poland joint observation of shooting stars last few years, the Copernicus Science Centre. This year, interest in the joint stare at the sky can come to the center between the hours. 21 and 2 in the morning.

 

Just as in previous years – to darken the urban landscape and to facilitate observation – in Warsaw will be extinguished illumination Copernicus Science Centre, a planetarium Copernicus Sky and Discovery Park. The lights will go out of the National Stadium and the Municipal Roads illuminations switched off Świętokrzyski Bridge, Poniatowski and the Silesian-Dabrowski will also be switched off lighting on the square Kahla. The Warsaw Metro switch off lighting elements ground part of the metro station Copernicus Science Centre.

 

The common observation of meteors, outside Warsaw, organized, among others, Kalisz (on the Champs de Mars), Piekary Slaskie (on the Mound Liberation) in Gdansk (Hewelianum Center).

 

IAR / PAP / asop