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Okotokian stargazers should be praying for clear weather around August 12th, as a meteor shower (which is billed to be the best meteor shower of the year), followed by a solar eclipse just hours later, assuming there are clear skies.
The Perseids meteor shower should peak overnight August 12th/13th, and shooting stars will be seen from the northern hemisphere every night during the shower, according to the Canadian Space Agency.
At it’s peak, more than 80 meteors could cross the sky per hour, and the cosmic display is caused by Comet 109P/Swift -Tuttle, whose tail of dust and gravel breaks up in Earths atmosphere as it orbits the sun.
Also on Aug. 12, a partial solar eclipse will begin at about 10:10 a.m. MDT and last almost an hour, according to timeanddate.com.
In Calgary , the moon will cover 2% of the sun at the peak of the eclipse, whereas Edmonton will be around 6%.
NASA says it is never safe to look directly at the sun without proper eye protection.
The current weather however, in Okotoks, calls for clouds and a chance of rain on Aug. 12 and 13, according to Environment Canada.
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