The night is always a magical time to make plans with our children. If we also add that they are on vacation and do not have to get up early the next day, the plan becomes even more interesting.
In this week you can make one of those magical and nocturnal plans. This week is perfect and unique to enjoy a of the best known and most spectacular star showers of the last years.
They arrive the Perseids to the August night sky, as every year true to your appointment but this is going to be a little more special year.
What we call shooting stars are not really, they are meteorites, many meteorites of a more or less small size that enter the Earth's atmosphere. The friction with this protective layer of the earth, causes the air to heat up to cause the brightness in the sky that causes us to call them Shooting Stars when they really are space rocks.
Rain of stars or "the tears of San Lorenzo"
Every year, in the month of August, they are well known the Perseids or "tears of San Lorenzo". This year they will also be much more numerous than normal.
If there are usually around 100 meteors per hour on that night, this year there will be about 150 meteors per hour.
From July 17 to August 24 they are taking place but its maximum activity will be from the night of August 11 to 12 and the second peak can be seen on the 12th between 13 and 15:30. Yes it will coincide with the European daytime schedule but with the nighttime one in North America because you have to take into account that they are only visible to the northern hemisphere.
Preparing the backpack
It is always important that our children carry out activities in nature, that do not lose contact with the natural environment so that they do not develop pathologies such as "Stress by nature". Walks in the countryside, contact with the earth, exploration, experimentation ... and now also, the observation of the sky, of the stars, of stars as special as the Perseids.
It is very practical that before leaving and more taking into account the time of the night walk, from 10 or 11 at night, we know the weather forecast for that night and in that place we want to move to. A walk at those hours with clouds may be fine but not to see the stars.
It is essential to locate a site dark enough to be able to enjoy the show that the sky offers us.
More than advisable to carry a flashlight to move around and a blanket or tablecloth where we can sit or lie down when we have located the ideal place from which to see the Perseids. The flashlight of the mobile phone can be a great help and if we also have any of these apps to enjoy and learn looking at the sky even better!
Keep in mind that the temperature, as the hours go by, will decrease so that a jacket may be essential to avoid suffering while looking at the sky.
It is not advisable to carry a telescope, not only because of the inconvenience of its transport but also because it will limit our visual field a lot, such as binoculars or better nothing, darkness, stars and our eyes.
You cannot forget anyone making a wish when we are watching the rain of stars as a family. A secret desire, which cannot be told because you already know that the wishes if they are counted are not fulfilled.
Have a spectacular night, do not forget to make the wish and fill you with memories full of magic this rain of summer stars!
Photos | Pixabay | iStokphoto In Babies and more | Ten more ideas for your children to learn on vacation | International Forest Day: forests without children and children without forests, something needs to be changed
In Traveler's Diary | The tears of St. Lawrence in the deserts of Negev and Sinahi captured by Neil Folberg
In Magnet | The universe as you had literally never seen (or heard)
