Perseid Showers

Not really reading or posting much tonight as I am based in the garden with a few tins of brew watching the Perseid Meteor shower. I have only seen about ten so far but I suspect that the light pollution doesn’t really help.

There are sometimes things that puts stuff like politics (and dare I say it even football) into some sort of perspective.


The BBC provides the following helpful description.

‘The annual Perseid showers are caused by small bits of debris, many no bigger than a grain of sand, that enter the Earth's atmosphere when our orbit passes through the tail of the Swift-Tuttle comet.

These particles travel at very high speeds, reaching up to 50 kilometres per second (32 miles per second), and burn up in the atmosphere.
This causes the air around them to get extremely hot, which produces the streak of light that we see’.

They also note that ‘If the skies remain clear, it will offer stargazers the best opportunity for a few years to see the Perseids.’

Obviously as this is the BBC later additions will probably add that this year’s spectacle was enhanced due to the direct intervention of Gordon Broon who has personally thanked Swift-Tuttle for its forbearance, sweeping its tail even further left in our direction. Further comments about Tories, clouds and ‘unclear views’ are bound to follow.

Mars will also be highly visible in the eastern sky after 00.00hrs. Please fill in any jokes you can think of about Gordon and Red Planets here.

Anyway, sit back and enjoy the show!