Sky watchers rejoice: summer isn’t over yet with dazzling meteor showers. Two meteor showers invaded the sky during the last week of July, but now the most popular meteor shower of the year is reaching its peak. The Perseid meteor shower gives you a real light show, as long as you are far enough away from light pollution to see it.
The Perseids are known for their brilliant fireballs and many meteors. The show started on July 17th and runs until August 23rd.
The Perseid meteor shower is so popular for two reasons. First of all, it takes place in the summer, so it’s less unpleasant to go out and watch than other large meteor showers like the Quadrantids, which occur during winter in January.
The second reason is that it is one of the most active meteor showers of the year. At its peak, the meteor shower falls at a rate of up to 100 meteors per hour. American Meteorite Society. This includes not only the typical shooting stars, but also the likelihood of fireballs, that is, meteors that explode as they enter orbit. Of POTFireballs usually last longer than regular shooting stars and can be different colors.
The Perseids reach Earth thanks to comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. The Earth’s orbit around the Sun causes the Earth to cross the fast line every year. It takes 133 years for the comet to orbit the sun. Its last perihelion (the point at which it is closest to the Sun) occurred in 1992. It won’t return until 2125. Until then, it leaves behind an excellent trail of dust and debris that gives us annual meteor showers.
How to catch the Perseid meteor shower
The best time to see the Perseids is during their peak this week. During this period, the shower produces an average of 25 to 100 meteors per hour. But since the shower officially lasts more than a month, it’s possible to see a shooting star every night as long as you’re far enough away from light pollution.
So if you’re planning to see this year’s Perseids at their peak, you’ll want to get as far away from the city and suburbs as possible. According to Bill CookeDirector of NASA’s Environmental Meteorological Office, city residents could see one or two meteors per hour, which is a small change from what people outside the city limits could see.
In any case, once you get to the place where you want to observe the meteors, you should focus your attention on the radiation, that is, the point where the meteors seem to come from. Like all meteors, the Perseids are named after the constellation in which they occur. In this case it is Perseus.
Via Stellarium Free sky mapPerseus will rise above the northeastern horizon of the continental United States on the evenings of August 12 and 13. He will then ascend into the eastern sky, where he will stay after sunrise. In short, look east and all will be well. Binoculars can be helpful, but we don’t recommend telescopes because they limit your view of the sky to a very small part, which can hinder your meteor viewing.
American Meteor Society keep that in mind as well that the moon may cause problems for viewers. The peak of the Perseids occurs just three days after the full moon in August, so the moon is still almost completely full. Therefore, it is very likely that light pollution from the moon will significantly reduce the number of visible meteors, depending on how the situation develops.