Perseids: Stargazers in Oman set to witness meteor shower

Muscat: Stargazers in Oman can witness one of the dramatic cosmic displays of “Perseids Shower” lighting up the summer sky of Oman this weekend.

The shower, which began in mid-July, is to continue until late August with the best chance to see the shower on August 12 at around 11pm and on 13th at 4.30am.

According to NASA, this year’s shower is extra special because of its “Outburst effect” when it may exceed over 200 flares in ideal conditions.

Ali Amur Al Shaibani, member of the Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences, says that to spot the showers, enthusiasts have to locate themselves at a spot with clear sky-view without any urban light pollution, and look towards the northeast.

Astro-enthusiast Sangeetha Sridhar says that she has fixed a camping trip this weekend at Jebel Shams to watch the shower.

“We will be able to watch it with naked eyes, without even needing a telescope. We chose to camp because our eyes need about 45 minutes to get used to the dark and we plan to lie back to watch the peak showers at midnight of the August 12. My son Aswath, plans for time-lapse Astro-photography to capture this phenomenal event of the year,” Sangeeth added.

Perseids occurs each year in the month of August with a flare rate of about 80 per hour at 60 kilometers per second speed, which is 500 times faster than the fastest car in the world.