Tweet

Email

Apart from the only partial lunar eclipse in 2017 visible from Cyprus on Monday two more celestial phenomena are expected in August, a Perseids meteor shower and a solar eclipse, the Kition Planetarium and Observatory has announced.

Perseids meteor showers have been occurring in July and August already, but a maximum visibility is expected in Cyprus from Saturday at 5pm until Sunday at 6.30am. Since it is dark for many hours during that time there is an opportunity to watch many of the bright fireballs the shower produces.

To make the most of it, people should aim to find a dark place outside an urban area so there are as few other lights as possible interfering with the view. The observers’ eyes need about 30 minutes to adjust to the dark.

The yearly Perseids meteor shower occurs when particles of the Swift-Tuttle comet enter the earth at the huge velocity of 58 kilometres per second.

These particles burn up, producing meteors described as shooting stars. When they are in space, the pieces are called meteoroids, when they reach the earth’s atmosphere they are named meteors and those that make it to the earth’s surface without burning are renamed meteorites.

During another phenomenon on August 21 the moon will completely block the sun for a few minutes.

The complete solar eclipse will not be visible from Cyprus but only from a few European countries.

However, the Kition Planetarium and Observatory which has planned events around the lunar eclipse and the Perseids meteor shower on August 7 and 12 respectively have taken part in research on solar and lunar eclipses and their influence on European culture and has information on both.

According to the observatory, solar eclipses nowadays give valuable scientific information.

For instance, the corona, the outer layer of the sun, can be studied in detail. The corona is not usually visible due to the very bright solar surface.

Also, precise measurements of the diameter of the sun are made and theories of gravity are tested.
The Kition Planetarium and Observatory is taking part in this research and has organised expeditions to two different sites in the USA to make observations of the total eclipse.

On August 7 the planetarium hosts the public event Eclipses in Culture at 7pm. The August 12 event Perseids Meteor Shower 2017 which starts at 7pm as well includes live music with Armenian Cypriot singer Yuri Melikov and telescope observations of the moon and planets.

Both events take place in Larnaca.

Source:CyprusMail