News
The article is more than 13 years old

Shooting stars brighten up night sky

Many shooting stars are to expected in the night skies between Friday and Saturday, as the annual Perseid meteor shower passes by the earth.

Tulipallo
Tulipallo Image: Aki Taavitsainen ja Jani Lauanne /Mikkelin Ursa

Tens of bright shooting stars could be observed per hour, although the viewing conditions in southern Finland are not ideal.

Astronomy enthusiast Matti Salo says that light pollution in the heavily developed province of Uusimaa will slightly obscure the sight. The moon’s current brightness will also not help the matter. As such, Salo recommends that observers find a dark, open spot to view the phenomenon.

Shooting stars consist of pieces of comets, left over around the sun. Once a year the earth moves through this cloud of debris. Even a piece of left-over comet matter that is one centimetre big will show up as a bright streak of light when colliding with the earth’s atmosphere.

Weather permitting, lots of shooting starts may be seen over the weekend and into the following week.

Sources: YLE