BENGALURU: If you think the Supermoon was the best thing that could happen in the sky this week, then you might want to think again as the Leonid meteor shower peaks to peak on the night of November 17 and 18.
These meteors are a part of the periodic Comet Tempel - Tuttle that orbits around the sun. Meteor showers are an annual event, but it peaks every 33 years.
Despite pollution, these meteors that are known to be bright and bulky can be seen wasily. The meteor will occur in the Leo constellation which is on the east.
“The city can expect to see around 10-40 meteors per hour,” says Prasanna Deshmukh, senior researcher at Indian Institute of Astrophysics.
“One part of the sky will be lit with shooting stars. Brighter ones will be visible, fainter ones will be visible from rural places,” he added.
The meteor showers, accompanied by pale yet bright light of the moon will also be an excuse for around 30 nature lovers to bask underneath the celestial wonders. Armed with a telescope and soothing music, a picnic will take place on Friday night, a little away from the city.
Organised by Gathr, -- a group of four individuals who conduct at least two gatherings a week to improve the quality of human interaction -- the idea of the event was discussed three months ago. The cloudy August nights had postponed the idea and recently they read about meteor showers happening this Friday and immediately set forth the event.
The gathering is going to take place from 8 pm to 2 am at Courtyard House, Koramangala.
“Since the meteors cannot be predicted, the wait will be supplemented with stories of the space time capsule, Voyager Golden Record and a lesson on astrophysics and cosmic chains,” says Badrinarayanan Seetharaman, co-founder of Gathr.
The Voyager Golden Record are phonographic records of diversity of life and culture on earth that was included in the Voyager Spacecraft in 1977 for future humans.