Perseids

The name is derived from the word Perseids ({{langx|el|Περσείδαι}}), the sons of Perseus in Greek mythology.

File:Perseids-EN-2025.jpg

File:The radiant point for the Perseid meteor shower.svg

File:P10220XX.01.49.MESZ.14.08.2019.Berlin.Perseiden.x0.1.gif of the Perseids with a size of about ten millimetres entering the Earth's atmosphere in slow motion (x 0.1). The meteoroid is at the bright head of the trail, and the recombination glow of the ionised mesosphere is still visible for about 0.7 seconds in the tail.
(Variant of the animation in real time)]]

File:Perseiden.Westhavelland.2020-08-12.webm in constellation Cygnus taken in International Dark Sky Reserve Westhavelland on 12 August 2020]]

The stream of debris is called the Perseid cloud and stretches along the orbit of the comet Swift–Tuttle. The cloud consists of particles ejected by the comet as it travels on its 133-year orbit.{{cite web|author=Dan Vergano|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/sciencefair/2013/08/08/perseids-2013-meteor/2628521/ |title=Perseid meteor shower to light up night sky this weekend |publisher=Usatoday.com |date=2010-08-07 |access-date=2013-08-12}} Most of the particles have been part of the cloud for around a thousand years. However, there is also a relatively young filament of dust in the stream that was pulled off the comet in 1865, which can give an early mini-peak the day before the maximum shower.{{Cite web

|title = The 2004 Perseid Meteor Shower

|date = June 25, 2004

|author = Dr. Tony Phillips

|publisher = Science@NASA

|access-date = 2010-03-12

|url = https://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/25jun_perseids2004.htm

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100320071509/http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/25jun_perseids2004.htm

|archive-date = March 20, 2010

}} The dimensions of the cloud in the vicinity of the Earth are estimated to be approximately 0.1 astronomical units (AU) across and 0.8 AU along the Earth's orbit, spread out by annual interactions with the Earth's gravity.{{Cite book

| title = The Cosmic Dust Connection

| editor = J. Mayo Greenberg

| date = 1996

| publisher = Springer Science & Business Media

| article = Cometary Dust Loss: Meteoroid Streams and the Inner Solar System Dust Cloud

| author= D.W. Hughes

| page = 375

| isbn = 9789401156523

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5MH0CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA375

}}

The shower is visible from mid-July each year, with the peak in activity between 9 and 14 August, depending on the particular location of the stream. During the peak, the rate of meteors reaches 60 or more per hour. They can be seen all across the sky; however, because of the shower's radiant in the constellation of Perseus, the Perseids are primarily visible in the Northern Hemisphere.{{cite web|url=https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/meteor-shower/perseid.html|publisher=timeanddate.com|title=Perseids Meteor Shower 2018

|access-date=2018-07-30}} As with many meteor showers the visible rate is greatest in the pre-dawn hours, since more meteoroids are scooped up by the side of the Earth moving forward into the stream, corresponding to local times between midnight and noon, as can be seen in the accompanying diagram.{{Cite web |url=http://meteorshowersonline.com/what_is.html |title=what is a meteor shower |access-date=2015-07-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150817222301/http://meteorshowersonline.com/what_is.html |archive-date=2015-08-17 |url-status=dead }} While many meteors arrive between dawn and noon, they are usually not visible due to daylight. Some can also be seen before midnight, often grazing the Earth's atmosphere to produce long bright trails and sometimes fireballs. Most Perseids burn up in the atmosphere while at heights above {{convert|80|km|mi}}.

File:The 2010 Perseids over the VLT.jpg's VLT]]

File:Perseid meteor 2007.jpg

Some Catholics refer to the Perseids as the "tears of Saint Lawrence", suspended in the sky but returning to Earth once a year on August 10, the canonical date of that saint's martyrdom in 258 AD.{{cite magazine |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,729450,00.html |title=Science: Tears of St. Lawrence |magazine=TIME |date=1926-08-23 |access-date=2009-08-12}} The saint is said to have been burned alive on a gridiron. His manner of death is almost certainly the origin of the Mediterranean folk legend claiming that the shooting stars are the sparks of Saint Lawrence's martyrdom. The legend holds that during the night of August 9 to 10, cooled embers appear in the ground under plants; these embers are known as the "coal of Saint Lawrence."{{in lang|it}} [http://www.sanlorenzomaggiore.net/9-agosto-stelle-cadenti-e-carbone-sotto-il-basilico-8142.html Falling stars and coal under the basil] www.sanlorenzomaggiore.net{{in lang|it}} [http://balbianblog.blogspot.it/2007/08/il-carbone-di-san-lorenzo.html The Coal of Saint Lawrence] balbianblog.blogspot.it

The transition in favor of the Catholic saint and his feast day on August 10, moving away from pagan gods and their festivals — a process known as Christianization — was facilitated by the phonetic assonance of the Latin name Laurentius with Acca Larentia,{{cite news |url=http://utestudents.blogspot.it/2015/08/summer-sky-4.html |title=SHOOTING STARS |publisher= utestudents BLOG}} a goddess previously celebrated during the summer period alongside Priapus, as a fertility deity. Among the Romans, it was believed that the trails of the Perseids represented the benevolent rain of Priapus' seed.{{Cite book |last=Powell |first=J. |title=Cosmic Debris |chapter=Observing Meteors and Meteor Showers |date=2017 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-51016-3 |pages= 179–216|chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51016-3_9 |access-date= |series=Astronomers' Universe |location=Cham |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-51016-3_9}} In this context, the god's cosmogonic phallus acted as a life-giver, blessing the fields and promoting fertility. During the same period, phallic processions and other sexual rites were common. Christianity, which had a different relationship with sexuality and generativity compared to Greco-Roman culture, replaced this sexual connotation with a reference to martyrdom.{{in lang|it}}{{cite web|access-date=14 August 2024 |archive-date=14 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614055717/http://www.informareonline.it/public/depliant.pdf |publisher=Associazione Turistica Pro Loco Ardea |title=Alla scoperta di Castrum Inui |url=http://www.informareonline.it/public/depliant.pdf}}

In 1836 Adolphe Quetelet wrote: J'ai cru remarquer aussi une fréquence plus grande de ces météores au mois d'août (du 8 au 15) "I think I noticed also a greater frequency of these meteors in the month of August (from 8 to 15)."Annuaire de l'Observatoire Royal de Bruxelles, Volume 4, 1836, [https://books.google.com/books?id=5jxTAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA272 p272] (In French) After studying historical records, he predicted a peak on 10 August. He then wrote to other astronomers, who confirmed this prediction on the night of 10 August 1837. Quetelet missed the shower due to bad weather.Sauval, J., "Quetelet and the Discovery of the First Meteor Showers", WGN, Journal of the International Meteor Organization, {25} February 1997, pp [https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1997JIMO...25...21S 21-33]

In 1866, after the perihelion passage of Swift-Tuttle in 1862, the Italian astronomer Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli discovered the link between meteor showers and comets. The finding is contained in an exchange of letters with Angelo Secchi.

File:Swift-Tuttle Comet Particles.jpg at Earth orbit]]

In his 2006 novel Against the Day, American novelist Thomas Pynchon refers to the Perseid meteor shower being watched by three characters west of the Dolores Valley after playing a game of tarot.

In the TV series Curious George, season 7 episode 1b, George and his friends Allie and Bill hunt for the Perseids, which they believe are creatures that look like purses. At the end of the episode, Allie's grandfather Mr. Renkins says that the Perseids is a meteor shower happening in early August.{{Cite web|title=Curious George: Bright Lights Little Monkey|url=https://www.ket.org/program/curious-george/monkey-down-under-bright-lights-little-monkey/}}

John Denver's song "Rocky Mountain High" references the showers with the lyric, "I've seen it raining fire in the sky."

• Leonids, associated with the comet Tempel–Tuttle
• Asteroid impact prediction
• Earth-grazing fireball
• List of asteroid close approaches to Earth
• Meteoroid

{{Clear}}

{{Reflist|25em|refs=

{{cite web

|title = 2023 Meteor Shower List

|publisher = American Meteor Society (AMS)

|url = https://www.amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/2020-meteor-shower-list/

|accessdate = 2023-08-05 }}

{{cite web

|title = Viewing the Perseid Meteor Shower in 2023

|publisher = American Meteor Society (AMS)

|author = Robert Lunsford

|url = https://www.amsmeteors.org/2023/08/viewing-the-perseid-meteor-shower-in-2023/

|accessdate = 2023-08-06 }}

{{citation | first1=Patrick | last1=Moore | first2=Robin | last2=Rees | title=Patrick Moore's Data Book of Astronomy | edition=2nd | publisher=Cambridge University Press | date=2011 | isbn=978-0521899352 | page=275 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2FNfjWKBZx8C&pg=PA275}}

{{citation | display-authors=1 | last1=Żołądek | first1=P. | last2=Wiśniewski | first2=M. | last3=Olech | first3=A. | last4=Krasnowski | first4=M. | last5=Kwinta | first5=M. | last6=Fietkiewicz | first6=K. | last7=Złoczewski | first7=K. | last8=Mularczyk | first8=K. | last9=Jonderko | first9=W. | last10=Spaleniak | first10=I. | last11=Gruszka | first11=Ł. | title=The 2004 Perseid meteor shower – Polish Fireball Network double station preliminary results | journal=Journal of the International Meteor Organization | volume=37 | issue=5 | pages=161–163 |date=October 2009 | bibcode=2009JIMO...37..161Z}}

{{cite web

|date=2012-08-11

|title=NASA All Sky Fireball Network: Perseid End Height

|publisher=NASA Meteor Watch on Facebook

|url=https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=402054346520464

|access-date=2012-11-19}}

}}

• Littman, Mark, The Heavens on Fire: The Great Leonid Meteor Storms, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1998. {{ISBN|0521624053}}. Chapter 6, "The Discovery of the August Meteors", pp. 83–100.

{{Commons category}}

• [http://gostargazing.co.uk/perseids Where to see the Perseids and public stargazing events in the UK (Go Stargazing)]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20170813061035/http://www.spacedex.com/perseids/ Worldwide viewing times for the 2016 Perseids meteor shower]
• [https://www.skymania.com/how-to-see-the-perseid-meteor-shower/ How to see the Perseid meteor shower in 2024] (Paul Sutherland)
• [https://www.skymania.com/how-to-photograph-a-meteor-shower/ How to photograph a meteor shower] (Skymania)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20170207113107/http://www.amro-net.jp/meteor-info/08_perseids.htm Perseid Observing Conditions (The International Project for Radio Meteor Observation)]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160305071426/http://www5f.biglobe.ne.jp/~hro/Flash/2014/PER/ 2014 Perseids Radio results] (RMOB)
• [http://www.nasa.gov/watchtheskies/perseids-2014.html Perseid Visibility Map] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230417071234/https://www.nasa.gov/watchtheskies/perseids-2014.html |date=April 17, 2023 }} (2014 NASA Meteoroid Environment Office)
• [https://archive.today/20121216110017/http://www.realclearwx.com/july09.htm 2009 Perseid Meteor Fireball]
• [https://archive.today/20121212113325/http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2009/31jul_perseids2009/ NASA website on the Perseid shower of 2009]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120830114849/http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/Perseids-at-Their-Prime-165433206.html Sky & Telescope Magazine – Perseids at Their Prime]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20161218124859/http://www.beskeen.com/gallery/misc/perseids/perseids.shtml 2012 Image of Perseids emanating from the radiant]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20171022144742/http://www.gmv.com/blog_gmv/what-are-the-perseids/ What are the perseids?]

{{Stars of Perseus}}

{{Meteor showers}}

{{Portal bar|Astronomy|Stars|Outer space|Solar System}}

Category:July

Category:August

Category:Meteor showers

Category:Perseus (constellation)