Guide to see the Perseids tonight in the Canary Islands

Despite this, the Cabildo de Tenerife has already opted to start a special security operation in anticipation that curious people, novelists and astronomy fans will come to the top of the Island to witness the spectacle in the sky.

In any case, whether they observe from Tenerife or from any other point in the Canary Islands, from the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (CAR) provide options for do not lose detail of the shower of stars most popular of the year. The first is to see it comfortably from home: the scientific center will broadcast the Peseids live tonight through the channel sky-live

On the other hand, it has already published a specific guide with all the details of the observation of the Tears of San Lorenzoa document that is part of the CosmoEduca outreach project and prepared by María C. Anguita.

How to observe?

The best way is to lie down, comfortably, and observe with the naked eye from a dark place with clear horizons. With the naked eye, the maximum possible field of vision is covered. With binoculars or a telescope, the field of vision is much smaller, which prevents us from seeing the rain well.

Where and when to look?

The Perseids may appear anywhere in the sky, although it is useful to place its radiant on the North-East horizon. If after seeing a shooting star you follow an imaginary line backwards and reach the radiant indicated in the image above, it is a Perseid.

This year the maximum activity is expected on August 13 at 1:00 UT (one more hour in the Canary Islands, two more hours in the rest of Spain). As it coincides with the Full Moon, your vision will be difficult. Therefore, whoever has the opportunity, can try to repeat the observation a week later with the Moon in Waning, as there will continue to be activity until August 25, although less.

Perseids from other countries of the world

To investigate if the Perseids can be seen from other locations in the world, you can use the free program stellarium.

Once installed, place the location you want, if it does not appear on the list you can directly put the location coordinates. By default it will give you the local time, if there is any discrepancy you can correct it in settings/plugins/timezone window.

Put the local time that corresponds to 1:00 UT on August 13, 2022 (if you don’t know it, look for the UTC time difference) and try to locate the Perseid radiant above that local horizon. You will see that:

• In the Southern Hemisphere it can be seen in places near the Equator. If at 1:00 UT it has not yet risen, advance time until you see it rise over the horizon (in locations far from the equator, the radiant will still be below the horizon even if you advance time).

• In the Northern Hemisphere the radiant of the Perseids will be above the horizon. At latitudes near the North Pole, even if the radiant is above the horizon, it will be daytime and sunlight will prevent the Perseids from being seen.

Factors that favor observation

1. Clear skies.

2. Darkness.

3. The highest altitude of the Perseid radiant above the horizon (see Sky charts with Perseid radiant).

4. The largest field of vision:

5. Own: It is best to lie down and observe with the naked eye.

6. From the place: The best is a place with clear horizons.

7. The comfort:

8. Bring mats or blankets that you can place on the floor and protect yourself from moisture etc.

9. Bring a coat, drink, food or anything else you may need.

What is a meteor shower and how does it occur?

The “meteor showers” are produced when the Earth in its journey around the Sun passes through a zone of dust. This dust, made up of particles of different sizes (the vast majority are around a micron) collides with the Earth’s atmosphere at great speed, producing that brightness that we commonly call “shooting star”. The scientific name for “shooting stars” is meteors. In the case of the Perseids, the speed with which the encounter occurs is about 61 km per second.

Many of these particle agglomerations are associated with remnants of matter that comets leave behind on their paths around the Sun. The Perseid “meteor shower” is related to the Swift-Tuttle comet that was discovered in 1862 and has a diameter approximately 26 km. The period (time it takes to go around the Sun) of this comet is 133 years. Its last passage through perihelion (closest point of its orbit to the Sun) occurred on December 11, 1992.

The popularity of the Perseids, also known as “Tears of Saint Lawrence”, is due in part to their activity (more intense than most rains) since they occur in August, the month in which many of us, far from the city ​​lights, we can enjoy the night sky more.

Why are they called Perseids?

The name Perseids is due to the fact that its radiant (area of ​​the sky from which meteors seem to come out) is in the constellation Perseus.

What other meteor showers are there?

The most important meteor showers, ordered by the approximate date of maximum activity, are:

1. Quadrantids (3-4 January) – 120m/h

2. Lyrids (April 22-23)

3. Eta Aquarids (May 5-6)

4. Delta Aquarids (July 30-31)

5. Perseids (12-13 August) – 100m/h

6. Draconids (October 7-8)

7. Orionids (October 21-22)

8. Leonidas (November 17-18)

9. Geminids (December 14-15) – 120m/h

10. Ursids (December 21-22)

Curiosities:

• Each of them is associated with a comet or asteroid (as it seems to be with the Quadrantids)

• The Eta Aquarids and Orionids are due to the same comet: 1P/Halley

• The Perseids are, on average, third in terms of the number of meteors they generate per hour. Both the Quadrantids and the Geminids have, on average, a zenith rate of meteors per hour of 120 compared to 100 for the Perseids. The zenith rhythm can vary, as happened with the Perseids or the Leonids, which after the passage of their associated comets, reached 300 in 1993 and 3700 in 1999, respectively.