The Day of the Perseids
The Perseids,
named so because it appears that the meteors come from the constellation of Perseus, are an incessant shower of shooting stars or meteors that occur at their greatest magnitude between August 11th and 13th, and popularly also called "Tears of Saint Lawrence" hide a disturbing reality that is rarely explained.
By the way, the feast day of Saint Lawrence is most likely the Christianization of a
pagan solar cult, adapted to the day of the Saint's death on a "grill" - it is curious how even today we associate the Sun with the saint.
The Perseids, like all so-called meteor showers, are caused by the movement
of the earth which sometimes crosses its orbit with the path traveled by a comet, in this case the comet is called Swift-Tuttle, and releases small particles no more than a few centimeters in size and most of the time they are even smaller, they can also be of various colors, and can even produce noise.
Swift-Tuttle is not the largest comet we know, nor the one that causes the most extensive "meteor shower," but there is no doubt that it IS the most dangerous.
Swift-Tuttle is the largest known object that will pass close enough to Earth to
cause concern, it is a giant comet, approximately 26 km, perhaps it seems insignificant compared to 1 trillion cubic kilometers of Earth, but consider that the dinosaurs and much of life succumbed to a bolide of only 10 km, this comet is more than twice that size!
The comet that brings us this marvelous spectacle could very well be the last show that
human beings see, however it is difficult to be certain of the exact place through which Swift-Tuttle will pass and whether it will cause the predicted destruction, the surface of a comet is formed, among other things, of rock and ice and we all remember the sad fate of the comet ISON disintegrated by the Sun, in any case there are still 2000 years until the intersection, if we have not destroyed ourselves by then surely humanity will know how to fix this.
When you see these nights the meteor showers, know that they come to us from what may be the most dangerous object for humanity and life on Earth that is known "after the hoaxes on social media."
And if after knowing this you still want to see this meteor shower, I will leave you some tips for it:
- 1 En primer lugar tenemos que situarnos en un lugar alejado de la contaminación lumínica,
no basta con saber el lugar en el que aparecerá la lluvia de estrellas, si tenemos un farol encendido justo encima sera dificil apreciarlas.
– 2- If we find a remote location, which is more possible in the countryside, it is advisable to use a blanket or have a lightweight folding lounger, because if we do not normally have a very high ego remaining standing looking upward is not comfortable.
– 3- Unless we live in Andalusia and have to bring a fan (and especially if you live in Córdoba), you will have to stand for a long time in the outskirts and it is better to bring some warm clothing.
– 4- Most of the time they are very fast, bringing binoculars will increase stress and decrease viewing time, remember that their size is at most a few centimeters,
do not expect to see Martians surfing on them.
Enjoy the spectacle, and if you wish to know what the stars have in store for you in your life, ask for an astrological study right here.