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The Perseid meteor shower (also known as the Perseids) greets stargazers every year from mid-July to late August. This year the shower will peak between Aug 11-12, according to the American Meteor Society (AMS)
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The 2022 Perseids won’t be quite as spectacular as they were in 2021, due to the full moon illuminating the sky. See the Moon posing with various planets throughout the month, plus catch the peak ofthe annual Perseid meteor shower.
Last year, the moon was just a thin crescent and didn't obscure the view of the meteor shower too badly, but the moon's glow is a continuing concern for skywatchers looking for a clear view. Even though the Perseids are especially bright, moonlight can make viewing a bit tricky. This year, the peak of the Perseids will be affected by the full moon illuminating the sky.
Most of the Perseids are tiny, about the size of a sand grain. Almost none of the fragments hit the ground, but if one does, it's called a meteorite. This beloved, annual sky spectacle is caused by the comet Swift-Tuttle.
credits: Future
via Space.com
Comet Swift-Tuttle is the largest object known to repeatedly pass by Earth; its nucleus is about 16 miles (26 kilometers) wide. It last passed near Earth during its orbit around the sun in 1992, and the next time will be in 2126.
When you sit back to watch a meteor shower, you're actually seeing the pieces of comet debris heat up as they enter the atmosphere and burn up in a bright burst of light, streaking a vivid path across the sky as they travel at 37 miles (59 kilometers) per second, according to NASA.
The Perseids generally appear to radiate from a point high in the north, called the "radiant." But you need only point yourself generally toward the north and look up.
And while we're talking meteors, did you know many of these "shooting stars" come from comets? Most of the annual meteor showers we observe take place as Earth passes through trails of debris left behind by active comets orbiting the Sun, casting off little bits of dusty debris in their long tails.
Every year from mid-July to late August, observers are able to admire burning cometary debris all over the sky. This year, the peak comes from the evening of August 12 until the morning of the 13th. The moon will enter a phase of the crescent, eliminating additional lighting. The sky will be perfectly dark for viewing the meteor shower.
The Royal Observatory Greenwich in London said: “As the bits of rock and dust in the stream of debris collide with the Earth’s atmosphere, they burn up and create fiery streaks across the sky.”
Education:
A veritable ritual for summer stargazers, the Perseids are considered one of nature's best fireworks shows, with dozens of shooting stars an hour falling at peak times.
How to see?
You can see the Perseid meteor shower best in the Northern Hemisphere and down to the mid-southern latitudes, and all you need to catch the show is darkness, somewhere comfortable to sit and a bit of patience.
To find the Perseid meteor shower, it's a good idea to look for the point in the sky where they appear to originate from, this is known as the radiant. According to NASA, the Perseids' radiant is in the Perseus Constellation. Though Perseus isn't the easiest to find, it conveniently follows the brighter and more distinctive constellation Cassiopeia across the night sky. The meteor shower gets its name from the constellation it radiates from, the constellation is not the source of the meteors.
Persed shower
credits: Dneutral Han/ Getty Images
This is probably not the best year to make a special trip in order to see the Perseids, but, if you find yourself outside between midnight and dawn on Aug. 13, don’t forget to look up anyway.
Why? Because you never know – you might just catch one of the bright Perseid meteors that defies the glare of the Moon. Also, the occasional early Perseid can streak across the sky as much as a week beforehand.
The mornings of August 11 and 13 are worth trying, too. The morning of August 13 will present a thinner and less bright moon than on the previous dates … and also more hours of dark skyfor meteor watching. Somoonriseis a key factor for watching 2020’s Perseid meteor shower.
credits: unknown
via Google Images
As the full Moon subsides, the Perseids will begin to wane Aug. 21-22 and cease completely by Sept. 1. They’re the debris remnants of Comet Swift-Tuttle, a lumbering “snowball” composed of ice, rock, and dust, which orbits our Sun every 133 years. The comet itself was last visible to us in 1992 and won’t pass our way again until 2125.
How dark must be? Meteor-hunting toolbox:
To best see the Perseids, go to the darkest possible location and lean back and relax. You don't need any telescopes or binoculars as the secret is to take in as much sky as possible and allow about 30 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the dark.
credits: Future
via Space.com
VisitSunrise Sunset Calendarsto find out when the moon rises in your sky, remembering to check themoonrise and moonsetbox.
Also, keep in mind that the Perseids tend to be bright. So we expect a number of them to overcome the moonlit glare over the next several mornings. Will you see as many as 40 to 50 meteors per hour in the predawn hours? Maybe!
Perseid meteor
credits; Getty Images
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NASA: Perseids Peak: Watch Best Meteor Shower of the Year!
Il fait beau, il fait chau! L’occasion de jouer à la pétanque en plein air ! Mais pourquoi se priver d’une double dose?
Aujourd'hui, le dimanche 31 juillet, et jusqu’à demain, le 1er août, Google présente un Doodle qui se pare des célèbres boules de métal en intégrant un petit jeu de pétanque.
« La pétanque a toujours été un sport français emblématique. Jouer à la pétanque, c’est pour moi revenir à l’authenticité, la convivialité et à tous les âges. Je souhaitais partager cette expérience », commente la dessinatrice de doodles Hélène Leroux.
Ce jeu est effectivement typique du sud de la France, mais son aura va au-delà. Son origine est d’ailleurs lointaine : il faut remonter aux lancers de pierres plates à l’Antiquité, puis aux lancers de boules de pierre chez les Grecs, avant que les Romains n’intègrent la boule cible (le cochonnet) et qu’ils importent le jeu en France.
Trop chaud pour une partie de pétanque dehors? Vos amis sont en vacances et vous êtes coincé à la maison? Pas de soucis, les derniers Doodle Bowls! sont disponibles et vous permettront de vous adonner - virtuellement - à cette activité en solo, contre des joueurs tirés au sort ou même entre amis - via un lien d'invitation , que ce soit en tête-à-tête, ou avec votre acolyte ceinture noire de pétanque en doublette.
The Google Doodle of today and tomorrow, 31 July - 1st August is an interactive game celebrating la Pétanque, an older and traditional game played in Provence, France.
The modern game of Pétanque originated in 1907 in Provence, France when a local café owner adjusted the rules to accommodate a player whose rheumatism prevented him from running. With a reduced length of the field and a stationary toss, Pétanque spread quickly across the country.
The rules of the game are fairly simple: throw, toss, or roll your team’s metal boules closer to the target boule than the other team. Over a series of rounds, the first player or team to score thirteen points wins!
The goal might sound simple, but players can use a number of tactics to gain an advantage over their opponent. “Shooting” is a popular strategy, often used at competitive levels, where players attempt to knock away an opponent's boule from the target.
Click the Doodle and get the boules rolling! Play a random match or challenge your friends!
It's Summer time! Don't forget to play la Pétangue in your your garden or in a park of the city you live. Remember, the Doodle game will be displayed until tomorrow, August 1st.
Or invite your online friends to play! It's funny! hat's wonderful! Tomorrow they will know the winners! Pay attention!
16 illustrations of individual personified black and white, purple and green olives. Each olive wears a different expression and some hold Pétanque boules. The words “Les Olives” caption the drawings.
The teams are made up of two varieties of olives, and the pitch is good old-fashioned toast.
Wherever you are, on holiday summer, I hope that you're having a wonderful and safe time.
I'll be back posting the normal roundup next week.
Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro reinvents the classic tale Pinocchio the wooden marionette who is magically brought to life in order to mend the heart of a grieving woodcarver named Geppetto. This whimsical, stop-motion film directed by Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson follows the mischievous and disobedient adventures of Pinocchio in his pursuit of a place in the world.
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio - (L-R) Gepetto (voiced by David Bradley) and Pinocchio (voiced by Gregory Mann)
credits: Courtesy of Netflix
A passion project for Guillermo Del Toro that he has been developing for almost a decade to the point that he once cancelled it because no studio wanna fund the Pinocchio moviehe wanted but thank goodness Netflix picked it up. This looks amazing!
Guillermo del Toro reimagining the classic 1883 novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, which follows a wooden marionette created by grieving woodcarver Geppetto
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, or simply Pinocchio, is an upcoming stop-motion animated musicalfantasy film directed by Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson, based on Gris Grimly's design from his 2002 edition of the 1883 Italian novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. It marks the animated feature film directorial debut of del Toro.
However there will be some different details. While the original story by Collodi did have talking animals, Del Toro said how he wanted to make the film more grounded, in that only Pinocchio and the talking cricket are the magical elements of the story. Characters like the fox, the cat, and even the location Pleasure Island won’t be in the film, but it does trade that out for some more relative themes on what it means to be human and being not lying to oneself, intriguing since one of Pinocchio’s most notable traits is that his nose grows when he lies.
Pinocchio
Guillermo del Toro
credits: Netflix
The film was written by del Toro and Patrick McHale and stars the voices of Ewan McGregor - Obi-Wan Kenobi -David Bradley, Gregory Mann, Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, John Turturro, Ron Perlman, Tim Blake Nelson, Burn Gorman, Christoph Waltz and Tilda Swinton.
Pinocchio
Guillermo del Toro
credits: Netflix
Produced by Netflix Animation, The Jim Henson Company and ShadowMachine in co-production with Pathé, El Taller del Chucho and Necropia Entertainment, Pinocchio was announced by Del Toro in 2008 and originally scheduled to be released in 2013 or 2014, but the project went into development hell.
In January 2017, McHale was announced to co-write the script, but in November 2017, the production was suspended as no studios were willing to provide financing. The production was revived the following year after being acquired by Netflix.
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio is scheduled to be released in select cinemas in November 2022, followed by it’s streaming release on Netflix in December 2022.
Pinocchio
Guillermo del Toro
credits: Netflix
Education
Animated movies are excellent educational digital resources to motivate and inspire your students and breathe new life into your curriculum!
Teachers can envision so many ways to use animation movies to teach...
Literacy, grammar, morals, music, civics, sciences, drawing, reinforcing the skills:
Reading, writing, drawing, composing, reinforcing or introducing the skill of inference.
Teachers will decide carefully the animated film for which students or level they are teaching.
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
image via Plethora Network
I know well Guillermo del Toro, a famed and visionary director and Academy Award®-winning filmmaker. The trailershowcases del Toro’s eye for scene design coupled with his attention to detail that makes stop-motion filmmaking so palpably engaging and visually appealing, someone wrote.
So, believe me I can't wait to go to some cinema near by or even watching streaming on Netflix this incredible stop-motion movie, a masterpiece based on Collodi's classical tale. The trailer promises so much!
Hoping you will not miss to include the Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchiointo your lessons next back-to-school, Carlo Collodi's book and the trailer of del Toro animation as a motivation, before November (in selected theatres) or December (on Netflix) to explore the pedagogical richness of this awesome digital resource.
In November or December, teachers can include del Toro's Pinocchio into their lessons going to the theaters with their students or watching Netflix streaming in the classroom. Depending of the hour Netflix will stream Pinocchio, teachers will invite students to do it before or after school time. Then, they will develop the activities prepared.
