A brilliant meteor brightened the night sky left NASA speechless while the space agency examined its All-sky Fireball Network.
The footage, taken throughout the nights of August 3 and 4, shows fireballs lighting up the sky in front of NASA's All-Sky Fireball Network of cameras.
According to NASA, the All-Sky Fireball Network has 17 cameras that check meteors across the U.S. skies. Its purpose is to aid in protecting spacecraft from punctures caused by rocks passing through Earth's atmosphere.
The study, titled "Olympus End of Life Anomaly - A Perseid Meteoroid Impact Event?," claimed that the European Olympus-1 satellite was lost in 1993 due to the Perseid meteor shower, which peaks in August. After a generation, Canada's Western University in London, Ontario, is one of those attempting to simulate the shower for spaceship safety.
NASA's All-Sky Fireball Network to Notify Sattelite Operators on Meteor Shower's Arrival
Western professor Peter Brown, who studies meteors with a network of Canadian cameras and radar run by the university, said in a statement that they can alert satellite operators to the impending arrival of a meteor shower outburst and that they should orient their spacecraft to minimize cross-sectional area concerning the direction in which the meteors are traveling.
Science Times explained that the Perseids happen when the Earth collides with the mess left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle. This year, the Perseids peak occurs overnight on August 12, when the moon is a tiny crescent in the sky.
While the amount of Perseids will be just the usual, the dark sky will be excellent for seeing the shower, known for creating fireballs like those caught by NASA earlier this month. In the space agency's blog post, NASA meteor scientist Bill Cooke said dark-sky observers should see up to 100 Perseid meteors every hour.
The meteors seem to be coming from the Perseus constellation. On the other hand, shooting stars might be seen practically somewhere in the sky. They can happen as regularly as once every few minutes.
Don't Wait Until 2022, 2023 to Watch Perseids Meteor Shower!
Although the meteor shower occurs every year, some conditions may persuade you not to wait until 2022 and 2023 to see it.
This week, NASA said the Perseid meteor shower might be your greatest chance to conduct some summer skywatching in a few years.
According to the space agency, a full moon and lesser meteor activity during the Perseids' peak are forecasted next year. In the year 2023, a fading crescent high in the sky may obstruct your viewing enjoyment.
This isn't the first time the moon obstructed the prime sight of a meteor shower. ABC News said the Perseids' peak viewing was overlapped by a rare supermoon in 2014.
How to See Perseids Meteor this Week
The Perseid meteor shower will be streamed live on NASA TV and its social media sites. From August 11-12, you can watch the live feed on NASA's Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube pages. The meteor shower will be streamed live by NASA throughout the night.
The Perseids are among the most common meteor showers, with 50 to 100 swift and brilliant meteors visible every hour. According to SlashGear's article, the Perseids "will appear in the sky as swift tiny streaks of light." It's definitely a sight to see, and you might want to take a snapshot or two.
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