Star-gazers and astronomy enthusiasts were all looking up the sky to see the magical effect of the annual Perseid meteor shower. The shooting stars that reached its peak in August are a product of or debris of the 109P/Swift-Tuttle comet. This passes by the earth every 133 years.
Every bit of the debris from this comet creates a seeming streak of light on the night sky. With thousands of enthusiasts and photographers would manage to capture on film. The lighting up of the sky is best seen from an area with a wide horizon and very minimal light pollution. The field or the park are the two best places to witness a meteor shower.
The meteor show happens every year and it has since begun to be considered as one of the highlights of the celestial calendar. This week, the showers were at the peak in time for people in the UK to witness such a majestic sight in the skies. A good view of the sky can be seen in many countries including Hungary, Turkey, and Canada.
Heidi Swain, a renowned British Author stayed up until 2 in the morning to witness the meteor shower as it happened in the UK. She described it as something "very pretty" in one of their social media posts.
While Jennifer Street, a Twitter user, described the meteor shower as something that's believably magical. She watched it from her back garden. However, not everyone has the same opportunity leaving several fans disappointed as the meteor shower did not really make a dramatic impact as it has previously done.
In the US, a full moon has altered the potential visibility of the meteor shower, reducing the meteor rain from 60 per hour to 20 per hour, according to the NASA Spokesperson. The shower is said to occur when the Earth passes by the debris and dust of the so-called Swift-Tuttle Comet.
In Mitzpe Ramon, at the heart of the desert of Israel, only one meter fell per minute, which roughly is less than the previous years they've witnessed the shower. Professor Rennan Barkana, head of the Tel Aviv University and an astrophysicist said that the shower this year is not as "Intense" due to the small number of debris entering the Earth's atmosphere.
This may perhaps be explained by the fact that the Earth passed by the sparser part of the comet's debris.
The Perseids remain active until August 24, though astronomers say that the showers won't be intense as expected.
