This is how the Perseids look like you've never seen them (and like you'll never see them... unless you're an astronaut)
It seemed that with the first artificial meteor shower (which will take place in Japan in 2020), we had already reached the ceiling in this observe the meteor showers.
But not. Now you can see the future meteor showers from your home and as if you were an astronaut, from the perspective of someone levitating through the Solar System: welcome to the project MeteorShowers.org .
" MeteorShowers.org Helps understand why showers of stars (or meteors, which is the same thing) . The showers of stars they are trails of dust left behind by comets and asteroids. When the Earth crosses these contrails, we see meteors in the sky. This visualization we've created shows the biggest meteor showers from the point of view of a spacecraft over our Solar System ".
Who speaks is its creator, the software engineer trained by Google and NASA, Ian Webster (the same person responsible for teaching us the location of our houses millions of years ago).
This is what the Sun looks like from the Earth (if the Earth were a great EYE that sees everything)
THE CAMERAS THAT MAKE IT POSSIBLE
The project was born in 2015 with information provided by NASA's camera system (NASA CAMS), led by scientist Peter Jenniskens , and the data from SETI Institute (a non-profit organization "that tries to understand the origin of the nature of life in the Universe and the evolution of intelligence").
Peter Jennisken has placed cameras all over the world looking up at the sky. "These cameras are sensitive to light generated by meteors burning up in the atmosphere. SETI scientists have programs that can reconstruct the trajectory of meteors from these photographs. We can extrapolate the trajectories by reconstructing the orbits of stars around the Sun." says Ian Webster. And this is how magic works... are you ready?
This is what the January quadrantids look like from the Solar System
WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH THIS INTERACTIVE MAP?
The first thing you will find is a global view of our Solar System with the Milky Way in the background and a series of stars fluttering in an elliptical orbit. Each of the colored lines traces the orbit of a planet (and of the Earth, of course, do you recognize it?) .
Now it's time to play with the mouse : zoom in on the planet you want, cross the meteor shower, see the Milky Way up close, take an overhead shot of the sun... whatever you want with a flick of your fingers.
In the upper left corner you can select the shower of stars you want. The next, the Perseids, that take place between this Saturday and Monday. In these same controls you can choose to wear from the point of view of the Earth (we recommend this option to go around the Sun, impressive! !) .
View of the Perseids
You can also follow it in its fast-paced (and fast-paced) orbit or choose the IAU number you want (that is, the number used to name each official meteor shower appointed by the International Astronomical Union ).
Ian Webster explains to Traveler.es that "tens of thousands of meteors are not associated with an official meteor shower. You can check it by entering an IAU number of 0 . Instead of populating space in an orbiting wake, these meteors appear as a blurred cloud as they scatter in different directions throughout our Solar System."
These are the meteors that are not associated with any 'official' meteor shower
The controls of the Right upper corner They allow you to show or hide the lines of the orbits and the Milky Way, as well as choose the speed at which our solar system moves.
you will also see how time moves inexorably , marking the different stages and astronomical phenomena from today to the distant future. Yes, this interactive map is, in turn, a crystal ball.
"Meteor showers are just as beautiful from space as they are from Earth! Plus, space is full of fascinating phenomena..." exclaims Webster. After researching this website and staying captivated for hours... we agree with him. This year, the Perseids, from the computer.
That bright spot yes, it is the Sun