Perseids: How Best To Watch August Meteor Shower Peak
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Stargazers are in for a treat as one of the biggest events of the astronomical year is due to reach its peak very soon.
The Perseids meteor shower is active from mid-July, but each year peaks in mid-August, with up to 100 meteors per hour streaking through the sky at a velocity of 37 miles per second.
The meteor shower is expected to peak on the evening of August 12 through to the morning of August 13. While the shower will continue through to August 23, the peak is the best chance to see as many meteors as possible.
However, the American Meteor Society is warning that there will be a bright moon on August 12—a waning gibbous that will be 84 percent full—which could reduce visibility by more than 75 percent, with only the brightest meteors visible to stargazers as a result.
NASA advises that some bright meteors will still be seen in the pre-dawn hours, but viewing conditions are not as ideal as in previous years.
Stock image of the Perseids meteor shower over a forest.
Stock image of the Perseids meteor shower over a forest.
Cyclonphoto/Getty Images
What is the best way to view the Perseids meteor shower?
The best time to view the Perseids meteor shower is in the hours right before dawn, either late at night or very early in the morning, according to NASA.
However, at timesm meteors may be visible from as early as 10pm.
Ideal weather for meteor gazing would be a clear night with little or no clouds and as dark as possible—full moons can seriously inhibit visibility.
Going somewhere dark, away from light pollution, also gives the best chance to see the streaks across the sky.
What is the Perseids meteor shower?
The peak of the Perseids meteor shower occurs when planet Earth passes through the busiest part of the debris trail left behind by the comet Swift-Tuttle, which last visited the inner solar system in 1992.
Swift-Tuttle takes 133 years to orbit the sun just once and is enormous, at 16 miles across—almost twice the size of the comet theorized to have killed the dinosaurs, according to NASA.
As the planet moves through the dust cloud, comet particles and parts of broken asteroids collide with our atmosphere and disintegrate, creating streaks in the sky.
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