It will rain fire in the sky

Researcher-lecturer

The National Museum-Planetarium

It’s a Colorado Rocky Mountain high

I’ve seen it rainin’ fire in the sky

Friends around the campfire and everybody’s high

Rocky Mountain high

Yes, it was in 1972 when John Denver immortalized a very bright meteor in his song Rocky Mountain High.

It was a moonless night in the Rockies. It was going to be a spectacular night. Everybody was awake, and it rained fire in the sky.

In the early morning of Aug. 12, weather permits, skywatchers all over the world will witness fire raining in the sky in what astronomers call the Perseid meteor shower.

Every Perseid meteor that you’ll spot this month is a tiny piece of the periodic comet Swift-Tuttle which orbits around the Sun every 135 years. As the comet swings around the Sun, it leaves behind a trail of dusty debris, some of which are no bigger that a grain of sand. When these dust particles enter the Earth’s atmosphere, they burn up, creating dazzling streaks of light we call meteor shower. The dust particles travel at more than 200,000 kph!

The meteor shower emanates from the constellation Perseus thus, the name "Perseid."

To locate the constellation Perseus, face toward the north and locate the stationary star, Polaris (a.k.a. North Star). For Metro Manila and the surrounding provinces, this is the stationary star located about 15 degrees above the horizon, regardless of the time of day.

Just before midnight of Aug. 11, wait for the moon to rise at 11:03 p.m. By 12:15 a.m. of Aug. 12, the moon will be 15 degrees above the horizon. Take note that Polaris and the moon will be of the same altitude in the sky at this time.

Draw an imaginary line connecting Polaris and the moon. The midpoint of this line is the region bounded by the constellation Perseus (see map). Below this point is Mirfak, the brightest star in the constellation Perseus. Follow the line upward until you reach the third star from Mirfak. This is the star Eta Persei. A little above Eta Persei is the radiant, the point from where the meteors appear to radiate.

The best time to observe the Perseid meteor shower will be around 2 to 3 a.m. when the radiant is relatively high above the horizon. Astronomers expect 30 to 40 meteors streaking across the sky every hour. But it is also worth trying to observe before midnight when the meteors will graze across the sky creating long streaks of light.

Perseid meteors are as bright as the stars in the Big Dipper while others are brighter. When the shower reaches its peak some meteors would appear as bright as the planet Venus in the morning sky, that could be seen by observers in the urban areas as well.

Meteor showers are sometimes unpredictable. Even if you don’t see the expected number of meteors, the planets Saturn, Jupiter and Venus will be up in the eastern sky an hour before dawn as a bonus attraction. At this time, the sky will turn into crimson red to signal the start of the new day.

(Readers are invited to submit their observations, stating their location, the number of meteors every hour or their experience to the author at [email protected])