The UAE lit up as hundreds of shooting stars zoomed across the night sky late Monday night. The Perseids meteor shower — known to produce up to 100 meteors per hour — peaked on August 12.
More than 1,100 meteors rained down from the skies until the early hours of Tuesday, based on the images captured by the Abu Dhabi-based International Astronomy Centre’s (IAC) monitoring cameras.
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The Dubai Astronomy Group (DAG), which hosted a viewing event atop the Jebel Jais, said the cosmic show attracted more than 300 participants. “The clear skies provided the perfect backdrop for a truly spectacular display of meteors, leaving everyone in awe,” the group said.
Known for their bright shooting stars, the Perseids meteor shower often produces ‘fireballs’, which are “larger explosions of light and colour” that last longer than an average meteor streak.
Speaking to Khaleej Times, Khadijah Ahmad, operations manager at the group, said the cosmic spectacle peaked from 1am to 3am. “Personally, while running the event, I saw 21 (shooting stars) just walking around.”
The shower occurs every year when the Earth passes through the debris left by the comet Swift-Tuttle. “This debris burns up in the Earth’s atmosphere, creating bright streaks of light in the night sky. The meteors appear to originate from the constellation Perseus, hence the name Perseids,” the DAG explained.
Look up, these events are next
For those who missed the spectacle last evening, the next celestial event is just a couple of days away. “The Mars and Jupiter conjunction will be on August 15 and it will be visible at 2am. And after that, we have the Supermoon on August 19,” said Khadijah.
According to the DAG, Jupiter and Mars have an “extremely close” pair-up called a conjunction. “They’ll appear just a third of a degree apart, which is less than the width of the full Moon.”
A supermoon happens when the moon is closest to Earth in its elliptical orbit, making it appear larger and brighter than usual.
If you want to catch a meteor shower, you would need to wait a few months. “The Geminids on December 14 will be the final meteor shower of the year and as always, it will be a spectacular celestial show.”