How to see the Perseid meteor shower during UK peak
The shower lights up the skies each summer and is known for its fast-moving meteors - often dubbed "shooting stars".
Here is all you need to know about the meteor shower and how to view it in the UK.
What is the Perseid meteor shower?
The Perseids come from a comet called Swift–Tuttle, which orbits the Sun once every 133 years.
The rocks collide with our own atmosphere at high speeds of between seven and 45 miles per second, causing the meteors to vaporise and leave behind a bright trail of light, also known as shooting stars.
According to Royal Museums Greenwich, the average speed for a Perseid meteor is 36 miles per second.
The air in front of the meteor is squashed and heated to thousands of degrees Celsius.
The Perseid meteor shower will remain active and visible in the skies until August 24, it is expected to peak on August 12. It will bring up to 100 meteors to the night sky.
How to catch a glimpse of the Perseids
The Royal Museums Greenwich has provided its tips on viewing the meteor shower.
One of the best annual meteor showers, the Perseids, will peak this month ☄️
Unfortunately this year, a nearly full Moon will wash out all but the brightest meteors.
However, another favorite annual meteor shower, the Geminids, is poised for Moon-free viewing in December. pic.twitter.com/pcnFEYmzCm — NASA Langley Research Center (@NASA_Langley) August 5, 2025
Its website says to ensure to check the weather forecast ahead of time, and if the forecast isn't favourable, find a different location to observe from or view the meteor shower on another day.
However, visibility could be affected by bright moonlight from the recent Sturgeon Moon.
Top tips on viewing the shower include:
Make sure that you are in a dark sky area and have an unobstructed view towards the south
Recommended Reading:
Lie down on a blanket or sit in a lawn chair to ensure that you have a wide view of the sky
Your naked eye is the best instrument to use to see meteors – don't use binoculars or a telescope as these have narrow fields of view
Allow your eyes to adapt to the dark and don't look at any lights, or at your phone, to maintain your dark adaptation
The Go Stargazing website also has some of the publicly accessible dark sky sites in the UK.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
26 minutes ago
- The Sun
Did scientists find an ancient alien HELMET on Mars? Mysterious object is discovered by Nasa
NASA has stumbled across a mysterious object while roaming Mars that's caught the attention of space enthusiasts. The unlikely piece has been likened to a medieval helmet due to its odd shape. 2 2 It was pictured by the space agency's Perseverance rover that's been on the look out for signs of alien life. "Gandalf's hat or a pot helmet?" one person remarked on Facebook. "The Planet of the Sorting Hats has been found!" another said in reference to Harry Potter. A third joked: "Martian buffalo's dung — nothing abnormal about it." Other guesses included it looking like a "landed weather balloon" or "a relic from an ancient sea that was once on Mars". The photo was named as Nasa 's Image of the Week by public vote and has been a source of discussion since. However, it's not some abandoned ancient alien accessory as some may think. It's a rock that happens to be shaped like a hat, composed of spherules. The shape is likely to be due to processes such as wind erosion, volcanic activity, and mineral precipitation from ancient groundwater. "This rock's target name is Horneflya and it's distinctive less because of its hat shape (which looks to me to be generally consistent with the pyramid shape we often see in of wind-eroded float blocks on the surface of Mars) and more because it's made almost entirely of spherules," David Agle, a spokesperson for the Perseverance team revealed to Inside futuristic plans for NASA-inspired spaceship that can shorten travel times for the Moon and Mars It's not the first time unexpected objects have been spotted on the Red Planet. A strange cylinder-like piece previously fuelled speculation with people suggesting it could be an artifact of ancient civilisation on the Red Planet or a chunk of a crashed UFO. However, it was later believed to be remnants of old spacecraft hardware. What is on board the Perseverance rover explained Perseverance is looking for signs of life on Mars. It boasts a total of 19 cameras and two microphones, and carries seven scientific instruments. 1. Planetary Instrument for X-Ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) An X-ray 'ray gun' that will help scientists investigate the composition of Martian rock. 2. Radar Imager for Mars' subsurface experiment (RIMFAX) A ground-penetrating radar that will image buried rocks, meteorites, and even possible underground water sources up to a depth of 10 metres (33ft). 3. Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) A bunch of sensors that will take readings of temperature, wind speed and direction, pressure, and other atmospheric conditions. 4. Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment (MOXIE) An experiment that will convert Martian carbon dioxide into oxygen. A scaled-up version could be used in future to provide Martian colonists with breathable air. 5. SuperCam A suite of instruments for measuring the makeup of rocks and regolith at a distance 6. Mastcam-Z A camera system capable of taking '3D' images by combining two or more photos into one. 7. Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) From Baker Street to Mars: Sherloc contains an ultraviolet laser that will investigate Martian rock for organic compounds.
Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
NASA spots mysterious object on Mars that looks like Harry Potter 'sorting hat'
A strange looking rock has been pictured by NASA's Mars Perseverance rover which is searching for life on the red planet and it has left space fans wondering what it may be A mysterious "helmet" has been spotted on Mars that has also been likened to a Harry Potter sorting hat. NASA's Mars Perseverance rover snapped the unusually shaped object on the Red Planet this month. Space fans voted the image as NASA's Image of the Week and debated online about what it could be. The photo, selected by public vote, was taken on 5 August by the rover's Left Mastcam-Z camera — one of a pair located high on the rover's mast. The rock is wider at the bottom and narrows to a point at the top leading it to be described looking like a hat. One online suggestion was that it resembles a medieval-looking helmet, while another referenced Harry Potter with the comment: "The Planet of the Sorting Hats has been found!" READ MORE: Tricky A-level maths question stumps grown adults – so see if you can solve it Other guesses included it looking like a "landed weather balloon" or "a relic from an ancient sea that was once on Mars". Meanwhile, Facebook user Sid Niknezhad playfully suggested it was "Martian buffalo's dung — nothing abnormal about it." The object is most likely a naturally formed rock shaped as the result of natural geological processes such as wind erosion, volcanic activity, and mineral precipitation from ancient groundwater. The rock is covered in small spherical mineral deposits called spherules. Spherules form when the groundwater passes through pores in the sedimentary rocks although scientists are not sure that all are created this way. The Mastcam-Z instrument, a pair of zoom-capable cameras on Perseverance's neck-like mast, allows scientists to capture high-resolution images and spot unusual features like this spherule-covered "helmet" rock. The Mars Perseverance rover has been sent to the planet for search for signs of ancient microbial life as part of NASA's quest to explore the past habitability of Mars. 'The rover is collecting core samples of Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and soil), for potential pickup by a future mission that would bring them to Earth for detailed study,' states NASA. Stargazers were struck by the fishy goings on, found by the robot which has been searching for life on Mars ever since arriving in February 2021. Since then, many strange-looking features appeared to have been spotted in the barren and arid landscape - including a doorway. NASA themselves said one rock structure looked like a shark fin and a crab claw. It posted in August last year on X: 'This rocky duo was spotted hanging out together in a wind-swept area. I spy a … crab claw? Shark fin? Comment below with what you see!' The image showed a shark-fin-looking outcrop and a crab-claw-like boulder which are cases of pareidolia. This happens when the brain sees something and turns it into a seemingly meaningful image that doesn't really exist. And the NASA post received quickly went viral with many replies with one person joking that there were remains of an 'almighty great cosmic crab'. Others also felt that the crab claw boulder looked more like a turtle, or even a coffee bean, while a further comment said that the 'shark fin' more closely resembled the back of a stegosaurus.
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Six planets are hanging out in early morning skies this month. Here's how to spot them
Six planets are hanging out in the sky this month in what's known as a planetary parade. Catch the spectacle while you can because it's the last one of the year. These linkups happen when several planets appear to line up in the night sky at once. Such parades are fairly common, happening around every year depending on the number of planets. At least one bright planet can be spotted on most nights, weather permitting, according to NASA. Six planets were visible in January skies and every planet of our solar system was visible in February, but not all could be spotted with the naked eye. Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and a faint Mercury are visible this month without any special equipment, and the best chances to spot them are over the next week. Uranus and Neptune can only be glimpsed through binoculars and telescopes. Jupiter and Venus made a close brush earlier this week and are still near each other in the eastern sky, 'close together like cat's eyes,' said Carolyn Sumners at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Mercury will be at its farthest point from the sun on Tuesday morning, making it easier to spot before it disappears into the sun's glare. To catch the planets, go out in the morning shortly before sunrise and look east. Try to find Jupiter and Venus clustered together first. Saturn is off to the side and Mercury will be close to the horizon, trying to rise before the sun. 'You're looking for little tiny pinpoints of light, but they are the brightest ones,' said Justin Bartel with the Science Museum of Virginia. 'They don't really twinkle like the stars do.' Before heading out, make sure it is a clear, cloudless morning and try to get away from tall buildings that could block the view. Mercury will hide behind the sun again toward the end of the month, but a crescent moon will then join the parade. The next big planetary hangout is in February. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
