ST.PETERSBURG, August 12. /ITAR-TASS/. Astronomy enthusiasts might enjoy a tremendous show in the sky at midnight when the Earth encounters a meteorite shower, a researcher of St. Petersburg-based Astronomy Institute said Tuesday.
Within an hour, some 100 meteors might join the meteor shower with the meteors following one another at an interval ranging from several seconds to several minutes, the expert said. Each meteor that leaves a bright trail in the night sky weighs several grams. Most of them vanish in the sky, but big meteors fail to burn down and might reach the Earth undestroyed, which is a very rare thing to happen, the astronomer said.
The area in the sky from where the meteors will fall tonight, is in the Perseus constellatioon in the north-east of the sky and left of the Moon. Particles of Swift Tuttle comet, which separated from the comet throughout long years while the comet had been wandering in space, will fall from the sky tonight in a bright, fascinating meteor shower convenient for onlookers to watch in mid-August, when the weather is clear and warm.
An ancient legend says that looking at the falling stars, one should make a wish, and it will come true.