Perseid meteor showers to stay till Aug 24

The spectacular phenomenon of Perseid meteor shower, which is currently present on the Oman skies, will stay till August 24, after its culmination which was visible on Monday night and early hours of Tuesday, according to the Omani Astronomical Society (OAS).

Speaking to the Observer, Abdulwahab bin Sulaiman al Busaidi, stargazer and member of the Board of Directors of the OAS, said that the Perseid meteor shower is one of the most well-known summer meteor showers and is best observed at its peak on Monday night and early on Tuesday at areas where light is minimal.

“Hundreds of stargazers are gathering at places where the light is minimal and where it is pitch dark away from sources of light pollution or any obstacle such as tall trees and looking towards the northeast near the Perseus constellation, which is the apparent source of these meteors from after midnight on to take a glance of the Perseid meteor showers,” Al Busaidi said.

Meteor showers occur when the earth passes near the orbit of a comet in its orbit around the sun and penetrates a crowd of meteors left behind by that comet. As for the Perseid meteor shower, the earth passes near meteors left behind by the comet, which results in dust particles entering the earth's atmosphere and burning during their entry.

He further added that astronomical photographers have a heyday clicking away the rare pictures of the same and of some celestial bodies that appeared in the sky during this period such as the giant planet Jupiter and Saturn, which could be seen naked eye without the need to use special observation devices.

The Perseids, characterised by their high frequency and bright, fast-moving meteors, which travel at speeds of about 72 kilometres per second at altitudes between 70 and 100 kilometres, are known for producing very bright meteors, or fireballs and no other meteor shower matches the intensity of the Perseids, which are caused by Comet Swift-Tuttle, a comet that orbits the sun every 130 years with a nucleus about 26 kilometres in diameter.