Cyprus Mail 6 August 2021 - by Evie Andreou
The Astronomical Society (Astrek) is inviting people to an event on Wednesday evening in Kyperounda for the observation of the Perseids meteor shower and a lecture on the annual phenomenon.
According to astrophysicist Chrysanthos Fakas, the shower started on July 17 and is expected to last until August 24, peaking on August 11 and 12. Since the meteor shower seems to be coming from the constellation Perseus, it has been dubbed as ‘Perseids’.
The shooting stars can be seen in the evening sky, Fakas said, advising star gazers to look up in a north-easterly direction after 11pm.
Fakas also noted that the August full moon this year is on August 22 which means that on the days of the culmination of the Perseids phenomenon (August 11 and 12), the sky will be almost moonless, which will offer the best kind of view.
“This beautiful phenomenon occurs because the Earth is currently crossing the orbit of Comet Swift-Tuttle which is full of the debris that it leaves behind while orbiting the Sun,” Fakas said.
“The Swift-Tuttle Comet is by nature doomed to lose mass during its travels,” he added.
He explained that the material the comet leaves in its path, is made up of millions of traces of dust grains of various sizes that are pulled into the Earth’s atmosphere when they enter its orbit due to gravity, and reach enormous speeds per second, causing them to glow and vanish into the sky, creating this line of light. He said this is what people call shooting stars.
Fakas said that at the event next week in Kyperounda people will also have the opportunity to observe the planets Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, as well as the Scorpio Constellation with its characteristic red star, Antares.
Venus, Fakas said, is the brightest celestial body that appears these days in the Western sky, as soon as the Sun sets, while a little later, in the Eastern sky, Jupiter appears and above it, Saturn.
He said that the ancient Greeks named these two planets as such because they look like a father who watches over his child. “That is why they gave them the names Saturn and Jupiter, who were father and son.”
The event, organised by Astrek in cooperation with the Fakas institute’s astronomical observatory, will take place between 9pm and 11pm on August 11, at the yard of the church of Ayios Arsenios in Kyperounda.
Entrance is free but people are urged to present a SafePass.
For health reasons, there will not be any observation of the phenomenon with a telescope this year, but the event includes observation of the meteor shower with the naked eye, and lectures.
