August 11, 12 and 13 will be the best days to see the long-awaited meteor shower of the Perseids and many are already looking for the perfect place to witness it. The Perseids are visible from all over the northern hemisphere in mid-summer and the speed of its meteors can reach 50 kilometers per second. Their activity rate can reach 200 shooting stars per hour and they can be seen with the naked eye, although this year the light pollution caused by the full moon, added to that produced by the Human Being, will make it a little more difficult to appreciate. .
It is precisely light pollution that worries Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC), which will offer a joint broadcast with the Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds (SPEA) of Roque de Los Muchachos (La Palma) and Pico do Arieiro (Madeira, Portugal) through the channel sky-live.tv.
The aim of the live broadcast is to raise public awareness of this pollution phenomenon from one of the clearest skies in the world: that of Macaronesia. Man-made light pollution affects a 23% of the continental surface.
Classic to see them on the Teide
Despite the efforts of IAC and SPEA to broadcast the meteor shower live, some prefer to take advantage of the clarity of the Canarian sky to see it with their own eyes. in Tenerife, it’s a classic climb to the Teide to be able to attend the so-called Tears of San Lorenzo.
But this year could be the last I know this scene. Like when it snows, Teide National Park collapses when astronomical phenomena like this occur. This, along with many others, is one of the reasons why the proposal for a Regulatory Use and Management Plan (PRUG) for this national park raises prohibit the parking of vehicles on the inside.
Controversy with the employers’ fabric and the political parties
The measures envisaged in the PRUG project have caused both stir in society, parties and the business fabric of Tenerife that after extending the period of public exposure until July 22, the government of the Canary Islands was also forced to extend the period of allegations Until September 15. Since the initial announcement of this new process, on May 23, this is the fourth date defined as “final” in view of the numerous complaints from parties, administrations and businessmen.
Ashotel, the hotel management association of the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, He presented his allegations a week agostating that the plan “suffers from the participation of interested organizations and groups, including Ashotel itself”, and urged the government of the Canary Islands to re-draft it with “greater participation and on the basis of technical studies , not so much on opinions”.
In a harder line, last Sunday 28 the Popular Party of Tenerife He presented his own, assuring that it is “a null and void document”, and insisting that the Regional Executive “stop its efforts to continue the process of dealing with this document, which must necessarily be canceled, and initiates another that guarantees a correct participatory process, which arises from the desire for dialogue and social debate”. He also calls for the immediate withdrawal of the plan Canarian Coalitionwhich on July 23 demanded greater participation in the elaboration.
Shuttle Buses
The PRUG is in the allegations phase and José Antonio Valbuena, Minister of Ecological Transition, the Fight against Climate Change and Spatial Planning, guaranteed last week that there would be no plan without social agreement. Vehicular traffic inside the national park is not in danger, but parking lot still up in the air within its limits until the final project is submitted.
Although Valbuena’s approach is to build three bus shuttles at the gates of the park to park the cars and continue the journey by public transport, it will be necessary to wait for the Perseids of 2023 to find out if there is an alternative to be able to see them inside the national park.