Israel is in a good place to watch it * At Mitzpe Ramon the lights were turned off in honor of the "Meteor Festival"
The Ataquarid meteor shower occurs every year when the Earth passes through the dust trail of Comet Haley, between April 21st and about May 12th and peaks around May 5-6. The heta-aquarid shower is considered a moderate meteor shower, that is, at a rate of about 60-70 meteors per hour. This year the peak of the meteor shower is expected to occur on May 6. The meteors penetrate the atmosphere at a rate of 60 km per second and burn while leaving a trail of light that can be clearly seen.
Israel is in a pretty good location to watch the meter, since its radiant is relatively southern and it rises late, starting at 1:30. In contrast to us, in the more northern region of the Earth, only a few meteors are visible.
As I recall recently, the Mitzpe Ramon Council, in collaboration with the Keshet Association, and in coordination with UNESCO, began the process of receiving recognition from UNESCO as the only "Night Sky Reserve" in the Middle East. The Night Sky Reserve is a standard defined by the United Nations Cultural Agency - UNESCO that defines a certain area as one where the level of light pollution is particularly low and limited and therefore is optimal for stargazing. In order to receive official recognition as a "night sky reserve" Mitzpe Ramon must reach a rating of 1 (out of 10) on the light pollution scale established by UNESCO. Even before the completion of the steps that have already begun to reduce the lighting, Mitzpe Ramon is already ranked 2 on this scale.
As part of the Ataquarid meteor festival held by the Mitzpe Ramon council, and as part of the council's activities in preparation for its declaration as a night sky reserve, the street lights in the town will be darkened tonight between 1:00 and 5:00, but the meteor can only be clearly seen until two o'clock, the time of moonrise.
According to Flora Shoshan, head of the Mitzpe Ramon council: "The darkening of the street lighting is part of an overall strategy designed to put Mitzpe Ramon on the world tourism map thanks to the sky and not only because of the crater."
