Israel Lit up by the Unexpected Perseids Meteor Shower

The Perseids Meteor shower lit up the night sky in Israel on Thursday night, with the nearly new moon making viewing conditions ideal this year due to the relative lack of moonlight.Several viewing events were held throughout Israel on Thursday, including at national parks and local observatories. Photographer Chaim Tuito captured the magnificent sight across the desert sky.

Meteors shot across the sky on Thursday night, as thousands of people lay on their backs deep in the Ramon Crater. Machtesh Ramon is the world’s largest erosion crater, shaped like a long heart. Deep in the center of it lies Be’erot campsite, the only campsite in the crater, where thousands of people from all walks of life come to enjoy the phenomenon.

According to earthsky.org, The Perseids Meteor shower will be visible in the northern hemisphere and down to the mid-southern latitudes. Meteors are caused by tiny, sandgrain- to pea-size bits of dusty debris striking the top of Earth’s atmosphere roughly 130 km up.

The debris deposited the tail of the comet Swift-Tuttle. Every year, the Earth passes through this region – it begins around July 17 and continues till August 24. In between this period, when the Earth passes through the densest part of the tenuous river of rubble it triggers the peak of the meteor shower. NASA states that as a comet’s path brings it closer to the Sun, some of its icy surfaces boil off releasing a lot of debris, water and gas out into space. Earth comes in contact with this debris every year as it completes its revolution around the Sun.