The world’s most popular meteor shower of the year is finally here! The Perseids, as it’s called, reaches its peak in the first half of this week. The peak nights will be in the extremely early hours of Tuesday 11/08, Wednesday 12/08 and Thursday 13/08. With typical rates of up to 80 meteors an hour (and up to 200 meteors an hour in outburst years), it is one of the most active meteor showers of all. The Moon may be waning, but being in its Third Quarter phase, it will still be bright enough to hide the fainter meteors. A rather good percentage of them should still be able to overcome the moonlight, however. If you’re in a dark enough area, you may still be able to catch 40 to 50 meteors per hour at the shower’s peak. If you wish to enjoy this celestial event to the full, make sure you find yourselves a spot as far away as possible from light pollution. Go to a dark area in the countryside, and prepare to sit outside for a few hours. It takes about 30 minutes for your eyes to completely adjust to the dark, and the longer you wait, the more you’ll see. These meteors will appear to radiate out of the constellation Perseus, hence their name. This constellation appears in the night-sky towards the North-east. Looking directly overhead will maximise your chance to observe the meteors. A meteor shower consists of pieces of comet debris heating up whilst entering the atmosphere and burning up in a bright burst of light, streaking a vivid path across the sky as they travel at 59 km per second. When they’re in space, these pieces of debris are called meteoroids, but when they reach Earth’s atmosphere, they’re designated as meteors.

L-aktar episodju ta’ stillel feġġejja popolari madwar id-dinja reġa wasal. Il-Perseids, kif inhuma magħrufa, se jilħqu l-aqwa tagħhom fl-ewwel nofs tal-ġimgħa li ġejja. L-aqwa ħinijiet se jkunu fis-siegħat bikrija tat-Tlieta 11/08, l-Erbgħa 12/08 u l-Ħamis 13/08. B’rata ta’ madwar 80 stilla feġġejja fis-siegħa (madwar 200 stilla feġġejja fis-siegħa fi snin attivi sew), il-Perseids huma waħda minn l-aktar episodji ta’ stillel feġġejja attivi. Il-Qamar qiegħed kull ma jmur jiċkien, imma peress li għadu fl-aħħar kwart tiegħu, xorta se jkun għadu qawwi biżejjed li jgħatti l-istellel feġġeja l-aktar baxxi. Numru tajjeb minn dawn xorta se jkunu jidhru pero’. F’post mudlam sew, xorta waħda se tkun tista tara xi 40 sa 50 fis-siegħa minnhom. Jekk tridu tgawdu dan l-avveniment ċelestjali tridu ssibu post il-bogħod kemm jista jkun imdallam. Morru f’post imdallam fil-kampanja, u stennew biex toqgħodu hemm għal xi ftit siegħat. L-għajnejn idumu madwar 30 minuta biex jakklimatiżżaw. Aktar ma tistenna, aktar se tara stillel feġġejja. Dawn se jkunu jfeġġu mill-konstellazjoni Perseus. Din il-konstellazjoni tidher lejn il-grigal. L-aħjar mod hu li tħares dirett il-fuq. Stillel feġġejja huma biss frak ta’ debris li tħalli warajja kometa. Dawn jinġibdu mid-dinja. Huma u deħlin fl-atmosfera jisħnu u jinħarqu. Dawn jidhru bħal linja ta’ dawl għal ftit sekondi, peress li jkunu għaddejjin b’veloċita ta’ madwar 59 kilometru fis-sekonda. Meta jkunu għadhom fl-ispazju, dawn l-hekk imsejjħa stillel feġġejja ngħidulhom metjoriti.