During the heavenly week we will be able to see a number of interesting and impressive events and lights in the sky of Israel. Meteor shower, concentration of planets, lunar eclipse and transit of the space station. They are all there, waiting for you
On Sunday, August 10 at 19:54, still during the evening twilight, the International Space Station will cross the skies of Israel. Although for us the sun will set half an hour earlier, the space station cruises at an altitude of about 350 km above the surface of the earth and as far as the astronauts and cosmonauts who are there - the sun will still rise. The space station orbits the Earth at a speed of about 8 km per second, a speed that allows it to resist the Earth's gravity and stay in orbit. The station will pass in the night sky and will appear as a bright point of light that will pass from west to east in 4 minutes. It is recommended to keep updated on the website of the Ilan Ramon Center for Youth Seeking Physics for more detailed information on the transition days.
The reason why the space station is so impressive lies in the fact that it is the largest artificial satellite on Earth, it is almost 60 meters long, its transverse section stretches over 44 meters and the solar collectors that supply it with electricity extend 73 meters from side to side. Although these receivers are among the most advanced in the world, a considerable amount of the sunlight hitting them is still returned to us, and so we down here can see them, up there.
A cluster of planets
During the whole week we will be able to see some of the most fascinating celestial bodies in the solar system, the moon will appear every night closer to the western horizon (to which we will return) and in the west immediately after sunset Venus, Saturn and Mars will march together. Venus is just now joining our evening sky and will stay with us for the next six months as an evening star, it will go and get brighter from night to night, from week to week. Saturn and Mars will soon be hidden by the Sun and will then be visible in the morning hours before sunrise. The planet Jupiter shines in the east just after sunset and the moon will be visible below it on August 15th.
Meteor shower
On the night of August 12, the Perseid shower will reach its peak. Enthusiastic spectators went out to dark places already a night or two before, aiming that sometimes the rain is earlier or later in the day. Already at 9 in the evening we will be able to notice the meteors that will scratch the dome of the sky from side to side. These will be few, and the light of the full moon may overpower some of them, but their uniqueness is that these early meteors bounce at the edges of the atmosphere like a stone that bounces on puddle water.
Towards 1-2 in the morning the moon will approach the horizon, at this time the Perseus group will rise nicely above the northeastern horizon. These hours are expected to show the largest number of meteors. A meteor every minute or two. To see them in their full glory, it is recommended to stay as far away from the city lights as possible, but even those who want to pamper themselves and sit by the sea, will probably see quite a few.
Meteors are called "shooting stars", but unlike the stars in the sky, they are not balls of gas thousands of times larger than the Earth. An average meteor is the size of a grain of dust, bright meteors called bolides are the average size of a pebble. We see them so brightly because they pass through the atmosphere at a speed of about 70 km per second! So fast they ionize the layers of air as they evaporate and disappear.
White defect
We will conclude the week on Saturday evening, August 16. If we look at the time of sunset towards the east and not the west, we will see a full summer moon slowly moving up the horizon. The special thing about this night is that the sun, the earth and the moon will be on the same line with the greatest precision! The shadow of the earth will be cast on the surface of the moon. Although the eclipse will begin at 21:23, this is only the "partial shadow" in which we will not be able to distinguish with the eye. The intensity of the moonlight will gradually decrease and at 22:35 the full shadow of the earth will begin to cover the moon. This shadow will grow and fill until 10 minutes after midnight on the first morning. Even during this time the moon will not disappear, in a partial eclipse not all of the moon is hidden in the shadow of the earth. At this time we can focus on the circular silhouette of the earth, the ancients already understood that the only shape whose silhouette is always circular, regardless of the direction in which the shadow is cast, is a sphere - and thus they knew "what the earth was like" long before humans reached the moon as part of the Apollo missions. Even during the eclipse, you should look for the Perseids that arrived a little late, point a telescope at Jupiter and see its moons, dig deeper for the part that stretches from horizon to horizon or simply enjoy those things that are hidden above our heads.
6 תגובות
of the Americans and she disappeared
Where will Venus be seen - near the moon or the sun?
And the rings of Saturn will be possible to see even with the naked eye?
According to science daily, this refers to the night between the 12th and 13th, which was cloudy.
Does it mean that the peak is at night between 12 and 13 or at night between 11 and 12?
Thanks 🙂
And will Neptune be visible to the naked eye?
Another interesting thing that was not mentioned. In the simulation I see that on the night of the lunar eclipse, at 21:00 Neptune will emerge exactly behind the moon and exit from our right.
At the peak of the eclipse at 00:10, Neptune will already be about a degree away from the right side of the moon.