There’s still time to see the meteor shower over Manitoba

It’s not too late for Manitoba stargazers to catch a special terrestrial event in the sky Monday night.

While the Perseid meteor shower peaked Sunday night, the Manitoba Museum’s Rihanna Cohen says the meteors will still be very visible a day later.

The meteors, which can be spotted annually in late summer, come from the Swift-Tuttle comet, which takes over 133 years to orbit the sun.

“When it comes close to the sun, it melts a little and leaves a trail of debris,” Cohen, a science communicator with the museum, told 680 CJOB’s The Start.

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“The orbit of this comet and the orbit of our Earth just happen to intersect perfectly so every year some of that space dust ends up entering our atmosphere and burning up in these little darts of light.”

Cohen said the event has always been a bit underappreciated by the general public.

“We’re just perfectly positioned within our solar system, within our galaxy, within our universe to get to see these things.

“Up until fairly recently, it seemed like a lot of people weren’t quite understanding how special — how unique — this is.”

The best part about the perseids: you don’t need any expensive equipment to get a glimpse.

“You don’t need a telescope or binoculars — all you need are your eyes and dark skies,” Cohen said. “Look up at the sky, just stare … because blink and you’ll miss ’em.”

0:52 Stargazing in August

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