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Have your secret wishes ready in Mid-August. In the fabulously balmy Mallorcan summer nights, the odds to see a shooting star are higher than ever. The peak of the meteor shower during the so-called “Nights of the Perseids” is expected for August 12^th when between 100 and 200 lágrimas de San Lorenzo (“Tears of San Lorenzo”) will be shed – mind you, not in a night, but per hour! The highest rate is predicted for the early morning of the 12^thand can be best watched in the pre-dawn hours. Let’s all hope for a clear and cloudless sky! And may the quarter moon not be overly bright.

The Tears of San Lorenzo #

The meteors are called Tears of San Lorenzo – lágrimas de San Lorenzo in Spanish or Les llàgrimes de Sant Llorenç in Mallorquín as the peak time of meteor showers falls around August 10^th, a day appropriately chosen during the hottest time of the year to commemorate Sant Laurence, a Christian martyr whose life found a fiery end as he was burnt on the stake.

A Bit of Science #

The Perseids are active every year from July 17^th to August 24^thwhen the earth, on her course around sun, crosses the dust trail of comet 109/PSwift-Tuttle and thousands of shooting stars are sparked off: Dust particles racing through space at a speed of almost 60 kilometres per second burn up in a height of approx. 80 to 300 kilometres above our heads due to the resulting friction heat and cause air molecules to glow. The source of the meteor showers being in the constellation of Perseus explains the name of the phenomenon.