Perseid meteor shower can be seen next week

Next week, many shooting stars will be visible, especially from Monday, August 12, to Tuesday, August 13. According to Weeronline, dozens of meteors can be seen per hour.

The shooting stars are part of the Perseids, an annual meteor shower made up of dust particles from the comet Swift-Tuttle. The Perseids are called so because the shooting stars seem to come from the constellation Perseus. In reality, they are dust particles and chunks of the comet Swift-Tuttle. When the Earth passes through the comet's debris cloud in its orbit around the Sun, these particles burn up in the atmosphere at an altitude of 100 kilometers. We see this as meteors. The Perseids are known to hurtle through the sky at speeds of more than 200,000 kilometers per hour.

The peak is usually around August 13, but shooting stars are also visible the days before and after. Weeronline expects favorable weather conditions, with wide clearings and occasional clouds.

The meteor shower used to be called the Tears of Laurentius because the shooting stars appeared around the name day of Sint-Laurens. Furthermore, the name shooting star is actually misleading. They are not stars but pieces of space debris that glow when they enter the atmosphere and thus create a light trail.