China News Service, Beijing, August 12 (Reporter Shangguan Yun) Romantic and beautiful... This may be the impression label people give to meteor showers.

The Perseid meteor shower undoubtedly has a place in August's "Amphitheatre."

　　However, Zhu Jin, a researcher at the Beijing Planetarium, said that when the Perseid meteor shower ushered in a maximum period this year, it just happened to catch up with the full moon. Affected by the moonlight, people may not see many meteors.

Data map: The picture shows the "Saint Laurent's Tears" Perseid meteor shower blooming in the night sky.

Photo by Zhao Chunliang

　　In addition, many meteor showers that people see are associated with comets and asteroids.

If you want to enjoy the meteor shower, you can usually watch it with the naked eye.

If you are lucky, you can also take good-looking shooting star photos with your camera.

What is the Perseid meteor shower?

　　According to previous reports, the maximum time of this year's Perseid meteor shower is in the early morning of August 13, and the hourly zenith flow is expected to reach about 100.

　　Zhu Jin introduced that there are three relatively large meteor showers in the northern hemisphere every year, and the Perseid meteor shower is one of them.

For the northern hemisphere, the Perseid meteor shower is relatively suitable for viewing because it occurs in summer.

　　Generally speaking, the active period of the Perseid meteor shower lasts from mid-July to early September each year.

The meteor shower has many bright meteors, and the flow changes with time before and after the maximum period are relatively gentle, which is more suitable for observation.

Data map: The Perseid meteor shower is staged in the night sky.

Photo by Mai Shangmin

　　However, whether you can enjoy a wonderful meteor shower in the end is related to many factors, such as weather and so on.

"This year is just in time for the full moon. Affected by the moonlight, unless the weather is particularly good, people should not see many meteors." Zhu Jin explained.

How do meteor showers come about?

　　To many people, the meteor shower across the sky seems mysterious and romantic.

　　Zhu Jin said that a meteor is a luminous phenomenon produced when a meteoroid orbiting the sun enters the earth's atmosphere.

The meteor showers that people see now are related to the formation of comets and asteroids in the solar system.

　　"In the solar system, comets revolve around the sun, and their orbits may be elliptical, hyperbolic, or parabolic. When they get closer to the sun, some dust leaves the comet's surface," he said.

　　Zhu Jin explained that these "dusts" can be called meteoroid groups, which still revolve around the sun after leaving the comet.

In the process of moving around the sun, if their orbits intersect with the orbit of the earth and enter the earth's atmosphere, a meteor shower will be formed.

Data map: The Perseid meteor shower, one of the three major meteor showers in the northern hemisphere, appeared in the night sky.

At the top of Mount Huangshan in Anhui, meteors travel across the Milky Way.

The starry sky is bright, the mountains stretch, and the top of Mount Huangshan is magnificent.

Photo by Mei Jian

　　"Except for meteor showers, the rest we call occasional meteors, or extra-group meteors. As for bolides, we refer to very bright meteors, and their measurement indicators are relatively simple, just look at brightness." Zhu Jin said.

How to watch the meteor shower?

　　When conditions permit, there are many ways to enjoy the meteor shower.

　　Someone once summed up a "viewing strategy": such as going to a place with a wide field of vision, going to the suburbs far away from the city lights, and so on.

　　"If you just appreciate it, you can usually watch it with the naked eye, and you don't need any special equipment." Zhu Jin introduced that as for observing meteor showers, there are photographic observations and telescope observations, which are more professional.

　　In addition, for astronomy enthusiasts, you can use the camera to take some good-looking shooting star photos.

"Sometimes the meteors can be very bright, and if you're lucky, you can see a lot of them, and if you take a picture, it's 'photogenic'," he said.

(Finish)