Las Perseidas - Las Lagrimas de San Lorenzo

Las Lágrimas de San Lorenzo                   
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Las Perseidas - see shooting stars in Spain

A meteor shower of shooting stars. On 12th and 13th August every year in Spain, and around the world, you can see an impressive nighttime display of shooting stars, also called a meteor shower, called "the Perseids" meteor shower.

A meteor shower of shooting stars. On 12th and 13th August every year in Spain, and around the world, you can see an impressive nighttime display of shooting stars, also called a meteor shower, called "the Perseids" meteor shower. In Spain the popular name for las Perseidas is “las Lágrimas de San Lorenzo” which translates as “the tears of San Lorenzo.” The Perseids meteor shower comes from debris left by a comet called Comet Swift-Tuttle, which is the largest object known to make repeated passes near the Earth. It can be difficult to see “las Lágrimas de San Lorenzo” in Barcelona because of heavy light pollution over the city, but if you are anywhere outside the city after midnight on 12th and 13th August,  there is a very good chance that you will see many shooting stars on these nights – up to sixty shooting stars an hour at peak times. You can see the Perseids shooting stars all through the month of August, but the nights of the 12th and 13th are the best times with maximum concentration of this impressive rain of stars. You can read more in an excellent article from 2010 (in Spanish) in the newspeter El Periodico about Las Lagrimas de San Lorenzo in Catalanya. They also mention that several astronomy groups organise evening sessions every year to see this meteor shower, including AstroGirona in Caldes de Malavella and Palamos,  Astrobanyoles inBanyoles, AstroSeu in La Seu d'Urgell  Parc Astronomical Montsec in Ager near Lleida, Observatori Astronomic de Castelltallat near Sant Mateu de Bages near Barcelona  and Observatori de Pujalt located in Pujalt near Barcelona among others.

go  More about shooting stars, meteors showers and how best to see them
go  BBC page about the Persieds and Swift-Tuttle comet

Last Updated on Thursday, 11 August 2011 10:02
 

Wednesday, 24 April 2024


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