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Meteor shower to adorn UAE skies

ABU DHABI — The UAE skies will witness on coming Friday a display by the Annual Perseid Meteor Shower, which is expected to peak on Thursday and Friday nights with a meteor every minute on average.

According to the Arab Association for Space Science and Astronomy, the perseid meteor shower appeared every year between July 17 and August 24 but increase during what is known as the peak period.

Sky watchers in temperate northern latitudes are best placed to see the spectacle, but the prospects are a bit dimmer down south.

Astronomer Dave Laney of the SA Astronomical Observatory said: "Capetonians would see …very little' of the event . The perseids occur when earth runs into a trail of dust and pebbles deposited by the swift-tuttle comet during its 130-year orbit around the sun."

"The perseid radiant point is too far north for us to get a good view," he explained.

Astronomers explained to the AFP that this debris strikes the upper atmosphere at about 60 kilometres per second, causing it to burn up into white-hot streaks. Bigger pieces are immolated as fireballs.

In the early 1990s, there were several spectacular perseid shows. This year's show will not be as spectacular, but since the moon will be only a quarter full, the viewing will not be hampered by moonlight, says the US Publication Sky Telescope.

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