When and how to see Perseid meteor shower light up UK skies today
Stargazers will be able to spot shooting stars across the UK on Tuesday night as the annual Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak.
The Perseids light up the sky every summer (they can number more than 100 an hour) and are said to be one of the most dramatic spectacles to witness in the night sky at this time of year.
According to Royal Museums Greenwich, which includes the Royal Observatory, the annual meteor shower's period of activity runs from 17 July to 24 August this year, but hits its peak on the night of Tuesday 12 August.
Around 150 meteors will cross the sky per hour but that amount will not be visible because the horizon blocks a full view of the sky, said Royal Observatory Greenwich astronomer Dr Ed Bloomer.
However, an estimated 100 meteors could be seen per hour in certain locations that are particularly flat and dark.
Visible to the naked eye, the chances of spotting the shower are dependent on the weather, with the glow of the moon unfortunately washing out the fainter meteors.
The weather is largely clear to Tuesday but early in the week August's almost-full waning moon means conditions "are unfortunately not favourable" for seeing the peak, said Royal Museums Greenwich.
What is the Perseid meteor shower?
Meteor showers form when the Earth passes through dust and debris left by asteroids or comets, causing specks as small as a grain of dust or rice to flare up under the pressure of the planet's atmosphere, creating shooting stars,
The Perseids are from a comet called Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the sun once every 133 years, and have been seen for almost 2,000 years. They are named after the constellation Perseus, from which they appear to originate. The average speed of a Perseid meteor is 36 miles per second.
When is the best time to watch the Perseid meteor shower?
According to Royal Museums Greenwich, the best time to see the Perseids is between midnight on Tuesday (12 August) and 5:30am on Wednesday (13 August), when the hourly rate could hit 150.
People will be able to spot many bright fast meteors that have trains, it says.
It advises: "The radiant of the Perseids is actually always above the horizon as seen from the UK, which means that observers in the UK should be able to see some meteors as soon as the Sun sets. Therefore, it is worth looking up in the early evening.
"It is always ideal to try to spot meteors when the moon is below the horizon or when it is in its crescent phase, otherwise it acts as natural light pollution and prevents the fainter meteors from being visible."
Dr Bloomer said the meteor shower is likely to be in the north-east as the sun is going down.
'However, it's not available to everybody, because the further south you go… Perseid is lower and lower on the horizon," he said.
'The primary interest is for Northern Hemisphere observers – Perseid is pretty low for us here in the UK, but it is above the horizon… in fact, it's above the horizon all day, but the problem is, of course, during the day, nothing's going to be visible.'
Despite it being more visible in the north 'the dominant thing is going to be, can you get yourself in a dark location', he added.
'Getting into the middle of a field in the south east of England, in London, is going to be better than being in the middle of Aberdeen.'
How can I watch the Perseid meteor shower?
It's possible to look for the Perseids wherever you are, says Royal Museums Greenwich, but certain places will up your chances of seeing meteors.
A good tip is to reduce the amount of light pollution in your field of view, it says, which could mean heading to the countryside, a park, or even just turning your back on street lamps.
Dr Bloomer said 'we have lots of chances to see this' but 'you have to let your eyes adjust to the dark'.
He recommended stargazers wait half an hour to let their eyes get used to it, adding: 'Take a camping chair or something – if you had one, you would just sit down, and you would just relax, and you would just wait.
'You want to get away from city lights, you want to get away from street lamps.'If you're looking out from your garden – it sounds obvious – but switch the kitchen light off, give yourself time to just put the phone away.'
People struggling to see the meteors can turn and watch through their peripheral vision as it is 'a little bit better with low light conditions', he said.
As it is summer, viewers will also have to wait until relatively late at night for it to be dark enough to see the celestial show. He added: 'For us, it's kind of one of the best (meteor showers), it's kind of reliable, it's long lived, it's quite dense… it's pretty active.
The meteors will also seem to originate from the constellation of Perseus, so if you use a stargazing app, you can find the right location to look at.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
14 minutes ago
- New York Times
Uranus Was Hiding a Moon Outside Its Rings
The space around Uranus just got a bit more crowded. On Tuesday, astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope announced the discovery of a moon orbiting around the pale blue ice giant, bringing its total number of satellites to 29. The latest addition, tentatively known as S/2025 U1, is tinier and fainter than any of the planet's other known moons. That is the likely explanation for why it was missed in observations by previous telescopes or spacecraft. 'We were very happy to see it,' said Maryame El Moutamid, an astrophysicist at the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado. 'It was acting exactly like a moon.' All four of the largest planets in our solar system have a substantial number of moons of varying sizes. In recent years, scientists have discovered additional objects orbiting Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune that are considered moons. Several of the now 29 moons of Uranus were discovered during a flyby of NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1986. But the icy world also has 13 narrow, sharply defined rings. Some astronomers believe these rings to have been sculpted by the presence of unknown 'shepherd' moons on either side, whose gravity prevents the material from spreading outward. With the high resolution of the Webb telescope's Near-Infrared Camera, or NIRCam, Dr. El Moutamid and her team 'were almost sure that we would find plenty of moons around these rings,' she said. The astronomers discovered S/2025 U1 in a series of images collected by the NIRCam in February. The moon was found lurking outside of the planet's brightest ring, Epsilon, between two other satellites, Ophelia and Bianca. This moon is not a shepherd moon for the Epsilon ring, as the astronomers expected. The team estimates that it is about six miles wide, and in a nearly circular orbit some 35,000 miles away from Uranus's center. It is the 14th inner moon to be discovered orbiting the planet. Over millions of years, Uranus's inner moons may have collided and spread out into rings. As the material in the rings diffused, they moved farther away from the planet. Eventually, that material can start to accumulate, recycling itself back into a moon. For S/2025 U1, 'this is the most likely scenario,' Dr. El Moutamid said, adding that this process likely occurred sometime within the past 50 million years. The astronomers are working on giving the newly discovered moon a permanent name. According to Dr. El Moutamid, they have an idea, but the name will have to go through an approval process by the International Astronomical Union. Thus far, all of Uranus's moons have been given the names of literary characters, many from the works of Shakespeare. More Uranian moons may be found in the future with the Webb telescope. But they will likely be even smaller than S/2025 U1, Dr. El Moutamid said. Uranus remains one of the least explored planets in our solar system. Learning about its moons — if their orbits are in sync, how they influence each other and what relationship they have with the planet's rings — can help astronomers better understand the evolution of the ice giant in our solar system. Many astronomers see it as a close analog for many exoplanets around other stars. That means studying Uranus may also offer insight for many worlds beyond our solar system. Uranus 'is just waiting for us to know more about it,' Dr. El Moutamid said. 'We need to go there, study it, to better understand our universe.'
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
4 Reasons Why ‘Self-Blame' Is Your Default State, By A Psychologist
The habit of staying up at night and replaying all the embarrassing moments of your life while stewing in self-blame isn't just a personality quirk. For most people, this recurring phenomenon, often beyond their control, can start feeling like a mental trap where you keep turning thoughts like 'you should have known better' over and over again in your head. This can also disrupt your sleep cycle. A 2022 study published in the British Journal of Clinical Psychology found that people most often ruminate or worry about past mistakes, negative experiences and social interactions, with nighttime being a high-risk period for such overthinking. The reason you stay stuck in this cycle has to do with your mind's tendency to disguise rumination as 'problem-solving.' You might be under the impression that you're figuring out what went wrong or making sure you will not repeat the mistake. However, in reality, you're just reinforcing the guilt and trapping yourself even further in the same emotional cycle. Over time, this habit can end up chipping away at your confidence, relationships and most importantly, your sense of self. A 2025 study published in Self and Identity explored why forgiving yourself is so difficult for some people and why they can be stuck in self-condemnation. Out of 80 participants, researchers found that 41 of them said they couldn't forgive themselves after a perceived failure. For 39 of them, self-forgiveness came easier. Researchers also identified key patterns that keep people trapped in such self-blame. Here are four reasons you're stuck in a mindset of self-blame, based on the 2025 study: 1. Your 'Time Focus' Keeps You Stuck One of the patterns researchers uncovered through the study was a difference in time focus. People unable to forgive themselves tended to experience the past as if it were still the present. This showed up in many ways. They replayed mistakes in vivid detail and reimagined what they 'should have done.' Essentially, they emotionally relived the moment repeatedly, and painstakingly. The researchers described this as a 'past-as-present' mindset. 'It is a raw feeling. Just like it happened yesterday, but I moved my daughter 4 years ago,' one participant explains, remembering how she struggled to forgive herself when she found out her daughter was being bullied in school. In sharp contrast, the group that could more easily forgive themselves showed a 'future-focused' perspective. They acknowledged their mistake and redirected their attention toward growth, how they could change and what the next steps could be, rather than staying shackled to what had already happened. 'I needed to forgive myself so I could stop blaming myself and stop looking toward the past when I needed to be looking toward the future,' another participant explains, highlighting the power of a future-focus in finding self-forgiveness. These findings suggest that when your dominant focus is on the past, it becomes hard to even see the possibility of a different future. When you find yourself ruminating on the past, you may start to feel like this is an unchangeable part of who you are. But it helps to remember that you are not frozen in that moment. Being in the present moment gives you the power to decide what comes next and take actions that can bring about real change. 2. You Doubt Your Own Agency Moving on from your mistakes isn't just about where your attention is. An important factor we often ignore is our belief in our own ability to make things different. The 2025 study found that people who struggled to forgive themselves frequently questioned whether they even had the ability to change the situation or prevent it from happening again. This 'low-agency' mindset left them feeling powerless. Participants who found themselves stuck in self-condemnation harped on their lack of control over their behavior or circumstances. This led to a deepening of their guilt. On the other hand, those who forgave themselves believed they still had agency. They believed in their capacity to make choices and influence life outcomes. This belief allowed them to move forward. If you lack a sense of agency, it's quite possible your mind lingers on your mistakes, negative events and the past as a prediction of your future. Rebuilding self-trust, therefore, is the first order of business. And you're allowed to start small, such as keeping a promise to yourself, showing up on time to a commitment you've made or making one healthier choice than the day before. 3. You See Your Mistakes As A Reflection Of Your Entire Character Often, the heaviest part of self-blame isn't the action itself. It's what you believe that action says about you that can determine how you see yourself. The researchers of the 2025 study found that people trapped in self-condemnation often saw their mistakes as a reflection of their social-moral identity, or their sense of being a 'good' or 'bad' person in their own eyes and the eyes of others. So, instead of viewing their wrongdoing as a single or isolated event, they saw it as proof that they were fundamentally flawed or unworthy. 'I have a particularly bad habit that has developed over many years. I have tried many times to break the habit without success. This is something I should be able to choose not to do, yet I keep doing it. I cannot forgive myself for developing the habit, and I cannot forgive myself for failing to break the habit. It's demoralizing, frustrating, and has ruined my self-esteem,' one participant shares. However, people who managed to forgive themselves were more likely to separate what they did from who they are. They acknowledged the harm but didn't let it define their whole identity. Moving forward can feel like a moral battle when your self-image feels tied to every misstep. 4. You Cope By Avoiding Instead Of Processing When you're drowning in deep guilt or regret, a natural instinct to quiet the discomfort might kick-in. This can happen in different ways for everyone, say binge-watching something, scrolling endlessly, overworking or distracting yourself in other ways. Indulging in these distractions can numb the emotions for a while, but that might not always be a solution for the long term. Researchers found correlations between self-condemnation and this 'emotion-reduction' style of coping. The defining characteristic of this style was pushing away uncomfortable feelings and a steadfast avoidance of processing and working through them. While this silences short-term pain, it leaves the root cause untouched, with guilt floating just beneath the surface. On the other hand, making sense of a certain event or feeling helps give it a proper ending in your mind. You reflect on what you've learned, have a compassionate conversation with yourself or reframe the event as part of your growth. For instance, one participant mentioned, 'In order to be the best parent I could be, I had to forgive myself and focus on my daughter. I just had to make myself understand that there were many factors that contributed to my daughter's depression, and I was not solely to blame.' Keep in mind that while you cannot change the past, you certainly can change the role it plays in your story and determine how it impacts you and your life. Mistakes Are Proof That You Tried To truly break free from self-blame, you need to make a shift in the relationship you have with that moment frozen in time. Your mistakes do not vanish, no matter how much you try. The good news is, they don't have to. When you learn to approach them from a growth perspective, you can see them as separate from yourself and they become catalysts for insight and resilience. An easy way to shift your perspective is using a narrative reframing technique for your past. Instead of just trying to push guilt away or analyze your mistake, you can go back to the memory and forage for moments of growth and perseverance. Done enough times, you'll likely notice that the emotions you associate with the mistake have taken a 180 degree turn for the positive. Do you keep replaying your mistakes in your mind? Take the science-backed Mistake Rumination Scale to learn more about this habit.
Medscape
2 hours ago
- Medscape
Oximetry Weak for Predicting OSA in Kids With Down Syndrome
TOPLINE: Nocturnal pulse oximetry (NPO) indices, such as the 3% and 4% Oxygen Desaturation Indices (ODI3 and ODI4, respectively), demonstrated moderate sensitivity and specificity for detecting moderate and severe obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) in children with Down syndrome but showed low sensitivity for detecting mild OSA. METHODOLOGY: Researchers conducted a retrospective study to evaluate the ability of two NPO indices (ODI3 and ODI4) for predicting OSA in children with Down syndrome. They compared cardiorespiratory polygraphy (CRP) and NPO recordings in 387 children aged 2-16 years with Down syndrome (median age, 6.1 years; 46.7% girls) who were referred for the evaluation of OSA at two tertiary sleep centres in the UK between May 2016 and May 2024. OSA was defined as having an Obstructive Apnoea-Hypopnoea Index (OAHI) of one or more events per hour and classified according to severity as mild (one or more to less than five events per hour), moderate (five or more to less than 10 events per hour), or severe (10 or more events per hour). Two-by-two tables were used to determine the sensitivity and specificity of various cutoff values of NPO parameters for predicting OSA: oxygen saturation (SpO2), ODI3, ODI4, minimum SpO2, the Delta 12-second index, and the percentage of analysis time with SpO2 < 94%, < 92%, and < 90%. TAKEAWAY: Of 387 children, 265 (68.5%) had OSA, with 164 (42.4%) having mild OSA, 51 (13.2%) having moderate OSA, and 50 (12.9%) having severe OSA. An ODI3 threshold of 19 or more events per hour provided the highest combined sensitivity and specificity for predicting OSA (59.2% and 74.6%, respectively); increasing the threshold to 23 or more events per hour provided the highest combined sensitivity and specificity for an OAHI of five or more events per hour (70.3% and 79.7%, respectively) and 10 or more events per hour (82.0% and 73.9%, respectively). An ODI4 threshold of 10 or more events per hour yielded moderate sensitivity (76.2%) and specificity (75.2%) for predicting OSA; a threshold of 13 or more events per hour provided moderate sensitivity (72.0%) and high specificity (80.7%) for an OAHI of 10 or more events per hour. For predicting an OAHI of one or more events per hour, an ODI3 threshold of 19 or more events per hour yielded a positive predictive value of 83.5% and a negative predictive value of 45.7%, and an ODI4 of eight or more events per hour yielded a positive predictive value of 82.8% and a negative predictive value of 47.5%. IN PRACTICE: "Oximetry alone does not provide a reliable diagnostic tool for evaluating OSA in children with DS [Down syndrome]; therefore, we recommend CRP/PSG [polysomnography] should be performed," the authors wrote. SOURCE: This study was led by Hannah Vennard, Paediatric Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow in Glasgow, Scotland. It was published online on August 11, 2025, in Archives of Disease in Childhood. LIMITATIONS: Using CRP instead of polysomnography meant that total sleep time was estimated, which could have potentially led to the underestimation of the OAHI due to underscoring of hypopnoeas not associated with desaturation when arousals from sleep could not be detected. The total recording time of stand-alone oximetry does not match the total sleep time measured using CRP, which may have affected the accuracy of oximetry indices in predicting the OAHI. The high prevalence of central apnoeic events may have affected the accuracy of ODI thresholds for predicting OSA. DISCLOSURES: This study did not receive any funding from any source. The authors declared no conflicts of interest. This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication
