Every day, Earth is bombarded by tiny meteors
These small fragments of cosmic matter burn up in our atmosphere
and have lit up the night sky for hundreds of thousands of years.
When they occur in large numbers, we might see a meteor shower
These events are so spectacular that throughout human history we have
folded them into our culture and mythology
The most famous of these meteor showers is the Perseids
But what do we actually know about the Perseids?
Where do they come from?
How can we see them?
and bizarrely, what do these meteors
have to do with a murder in the 1800s?
Each August, if you glance up at a clear night sky
there's a chance you'll see a shooting star from the Perseid meteor shower
They are known as Perseids because of where they appear to originate in the sky
from the direction of the constellation Perseus in the northern hemisphere
When we think of meteors we can be forgiven for picturing those big colossal rocks
that hurtle through space and crash into Earth just like every other disaster movie
but this is not the case
The meteors are tiny and it's actually more accurate to suggest that
we are hurtling through space towards them than to say that they're hurtling through space towards us
Every single Perseid shooting star has the same origin an ancient comet the darts in and
out of the inner solar system every century known as comet swift-tuttle
This comet is approximately 26 kilometers across, making it comparable to the
asteroid that ruined an otherwise lovely day for the dinosaurs, when it plunged
into the site of modern-day Yucatan Peninsula and wiped out around 75% of life on Earth
But don't worry this comet shows no signs of being any threat to us whatsoever
Historical records of the comet date back to at least the year 69 Before Common Era
but it was officially recognized and named in 1862
when it was realized to be the same returning object
It appeared in the sky as bright as Polaris the North Star
and received its names from to astronomers Louis Swift
and Horace Tuttle who observed it separately in July of that year
It's absolutely massive elliptical orbit takes a hundred and thirty-three years to complete
Taking it out past the dwarf planet Pluto before soaring back towards
the inner solar system, around the Sun and back out again
Estimates place Swift Tuttle's return to our skies in the year 2126
when it'll be visible to the naked eye
So how is this comet the origin of these shooting stars?
The comet leaves a trail of debris in its wake known as the Perseid cloud
This cosmic stream is made up of ice and dust from the comets itself
but these pieces continue to follow the same path around the Sun
These fragments can be as far as a hundred miles between each piece
which might seem really far apart but consider it's been doing this for thousands of
years building up a river of debris that Earth flies into every August
Each year, when our planet is at this particular part of its orbit around the Sun
it enters the river of dust left behind by the comet and as a result it's bombarded
by tiny meteors almost all of which burn up in the atmosphere
Tiny fragments ranging between the size of grains of sand and marbles or small stones burn up
as they streak across our sky over 80 kilometres above our heads at staggering
speeds around 60 kilometres per second
and from shooting stars for the fortunate spectator to spot
The peak of the Perseids occur annually between the 9th and 14th of august
On average around 60 meteors per hour can be seen
A rate of about one per minute
Although this number can differ depending on how much debris Earth happens to pass through
and whether or not a bright moon is illuminating the sky
For thousands of years, people have looked up and noticed this phenomenon
It's so spectacular that it's no wonder it's made its way into our culture
and even into our myths and religions
Some Catholics call the Perseids themselves the tears of Saint Laurent's
since his feast day takes place so close to the peak of the shower
It said that the meteors are his tears
shed over being martyred and rather grimly also represent the sparks which
ignited the fires in which he was burned to death
Famed Italian poet Giovanni Pascoli also likened the Perseids to tears
His father was brutally murdered on August 10th 1867
coincidentally the feast day of Saint Lawrence
The devastated Pascoli wrote a poem titled August 10th
in which he addresses the saint and implies that the sky itself is crying
referring directly to the Perseids due to the evil of humankind
Translated from the original Italian, it reads:
"St. Lawrence, I know why so many stars burn and fall through the calm air
why such great weeping sparkles in the concave sky"
So if you want to see this natural astronomical wonder for yourself
what's the best way?
Will you need any fancy equipment?
Not necessarily!
You're in with a better chance if you happen to be in the northern hemisphere during August
but the main things you need to hope for are dark cloudless skies
For the more adventurous, there are websites that will tell you the places that are
less affected by light pollution where you'll stand the best chance of witnessing the event
And keep an eye on weather maps for areas with less cloud coverage
If you're lucky you might spot a few every minute and you'll join the ranks the
fortunate stargazers across the ages who have been inspired and awestruck
by the dusty remnants of that ancient comet burning overhead