August is considered “meteor month” by astronomers, boasting one of the best displays of the year, which can be seen easily by the naked eye. The Perseid meteor shower, the most famous of all such events, will reach its peak on Monday night through dawn on Tuesday, and will be visible in the skies over almost all areas of the northern hemisphere, including Greece.
This particular meteor shower never fails to provide an impressive display, and those who can stay awake will have the opportunity to observe this phenomenon, if the weather conditions allow it.
However, the sky will not be very dark during the shower this year, since a full moon will be seen on August 15, interfering with the viewing of this year’s Perseid display. The bright moonlight will flood the sky for almost the entire night, disrupting any serious attempts to see the full array of expected meteors.
The moonlight will no doubt wash out all but the brightest of these swift streaks – but these should still be visible to careful stargazers, since many of the meteors are exceptionally bright and are known to have long “tails.”
If there was no interference, an observer in a location free of any bright lights would be able to witness anywhere from 50 to 100 meteors per hour streaking across the skies.
The Perseids are one of the most spectacular meteor shower phenomena every year because of their brightness and speed, and due to the fact that they have such long tails, which seem to sparkle.
Despite the fact that they originate mostly from north-northeast of the constellation of Perseus, they appear everywhere in the sky, not in a specific portion of it, which also makes them very unusual.
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