NIGHT OF THE METEOR GAME FULL

Last updated on: Friday, 11th August 2017 Test your knowledge on meteoroids with this game Find out how you can find your own meteorites, discover where the name 'Perseids' comes from and learn about the relationship between meteorites and beads from ancient Egypt in the collection below. To mark the lighting up of the sky, we've collated a range of articles and a game on the meteor shower. Met Office AugHow do I watch the Perseids?Д¬hannel 4's Liam Dutton explains all you need to know: We heading towards the peak of the #PerseidMeteorShower on Saturday night, but you can see it each night until then! Here's your chances /5UfU1zVhRZ The Met Office suggest that there's a chance of cloud making the night less than memorable across much of the UK, but have a forecast of the best times to look up: A meteor every couple of minutes is good, and certainly worth going outside to look, but it is hardly the вЂњbrightest shower in human history.вЂќ The Leonid meteor storms of the late 1990вЂ™s and early 2000вЂ™s were much more spectacular, and had rates 10 times greater than the best Perseid display. This year, we are expecting enhanced rates of about 150 per hour or so, but the increased number will be cancelled out by the bright Moon, the light of which will wash out the fainter Perseids. The Perseid meteor showerВ usually peaks around August 11th-13th with the night of the 11th tending to be the best night to catch some lookalike 'shooting stars'.Дespite rumours, it's not true that this will be the greatest meteor shower ever - NASA have issued a statement to damp down excitement:

NIGHT OF THE METEOR GAME FULL

NASA notes that light pollution from a full moon and lower meteor activity during the PerseidsвЂ™ peak in 2022, and from a waning crescent high in the sky for 2023, mean that this month offers the best opportunity to catch the Perseids for several years to come.Brocken Inaglory (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons under CC-BY-SA-3.0 licence under Creative-Commons license A few days on either side of that date also offer a decent chance to enjoy some Perseid activity in the night sky.

DonвЂ™t be too dismayed if the weatherвЂ™s lousy that weekend. If the clouds roll in, you may as well hunker down and watch something on your streaming service of choice. Having said all that, you are of course at the mercy of the weather. YouвЂ™ll be surprised at how much more detail you can see in the night sky after just 15 minutes or so of adjustment. If youвЂ™re coming from a brightly lit place, or you were just staring at your smartphone screen, your eyes need time to get used to the lower light levels. Give your eyes around half an hour to adjust to the dark. That way you wonвЂ™t have to stand the whole time with your head tilted back, putting unnecessary strain on your neck. Failing that, a blanket to lie on will do. If you have a reclining seat that you can take with you, thatвЂ™s great. Find a spot that offers an expansive view of the night sky, if possible away from things like buildings, trees, and mountains that will reduce your viewing opportunities. In other words, itвЂ™s really worth heading to a darker location if at all possible. But if you canвЂ™t escape the city lights, you might only see a few every hour. NASA says that if youвЂ™re in the Northern Hemisphere and well away from disruptive light sources, you could get to see more than 40 Perseids an hour. First, you should try to get away from any light pollution. There are several key points to keep in mind to give yourself the best chance of witnessing an entertaining meteor shower. The space agencyвЂ™s own meteor-tracking cameras spotted their first Perseid in late July, but your best chance of catching them will be during the peak viewing hours of late Wednesday night on August 11 through dawn on Thursday. So called because they look as if theyвЂ™re coming from the direction of the constellation Perseus (near Aries and Taurus in the night sky), the Perseids are one of many meteor shower events throughout the year, such as the Lyrids in April and the Geminids in December. NASA points out that the bright streak that you see is not actually the rock, but instead the glowing hot air as the fragment hurtles through the atmosphere. And you donвЂ™t need binoculars or a telescope to enjoy the spectacle.ДЇor those not in the know, a meteor, commonly called a вЂњshooting star,вЂќ is a piece of space rock that burns up when it hits EarthвЂ™s atmosphere at high speed. The Perseids, which appear as Earth passes through the debris trail of the Comet Swift-Tuttle, come around every year and appear as streaks of light that flash across the night sky. NASA said that when the Perseid meteor shower peaks in mid-August itвЂ™ll offer вЂњ one of our most impressive skywatching opportunities for a while.вЂќ

Meteor showers are as entertaining as they are awe-inspiring and weвЂ™re in for a real treat later this month with the Perseids set to light up the night sky.

Night of the meteor game