Large filaments of light in the night sky. This weekend, comet watchers were treated to the Peak Night Perseids, an annual “shower of shooting stars,” which took place from Saturday night to Sunday. Although minor, the phenomenon was also visible on the night from Sunday to Monday.
On the X platform (ex-Twitter), many netizens have posted images of their stellar observations. Some more or less amateur astronomers have shared their accelerated speed videos, in which we can observe the stars spinning at full speed.
Between 70 and 110 shooting stars per hour
In the photos also posted on X by netizens who were able to witness this spectacular episode in a favorable environment (especially without urban light pollution), shooting stars materialize as a straight white line in the middle of the sky dotted with fixed stars.
Some observers have managed to isolate several shooting stars in a single night, demonstrating the intensity of the phenomenon. Between 70 and 110 shooting stars were expected every hour on the night from Saturday to Sunday.
This year, the visibility conditions of the phenomenon were optimal, due to the fact that the Moon was at the end of its cycle (last quarter), which limited its light, which can sometimes interfere with astronomical observation.
According to NASA (the phenomenon was also visible in North America), the best time to view these stars was “between midnight and sunrise,” and meteor activity was “at its peak an hour before sunrise.”
Starlink satellites, the other show of the night
More surprising: many Internet users have claimed to have observed the passage of Starlink satellites, Elon Musk’s company, which have been circling in the sky since 2019. These devices move in the form of a long line of luminous points. Amateur astronomers have described the sight as “impressive”.
If you missed this particularly starry weekend, don’t panic: shooting stars should still be visible until the end of August, and in particular during the night of August 16, marked by the new Moon, which means that our satellite will be almost invisible. in the sky. Therefore, the show must be very little parasitized by moonlight.
Source: BFM TV
