“Best Meteor Shower of the Year” Peaks This Week
The Moon may limit amount of meteors seen
Most astronomers refer to the Perseids as the best meteor shower of the year. This meteor shower takes place yearly between July 17th and August 24th, with the peak of the meteor shower taking place on the nights of August 12th and 13th. In dark sky viewing conditions, stargazers could see 20 to 50 meteors per hour.
Best Time to View the Meteor Shower
Dark skies make for the best viewing environment to see the Perseids meteor shower, but an 84% full Moon will likely hinder visibility of some of the meteors. “The average person under dark skies could see somewhere between 40 and 50 Perseids per hour,” said Bill Cooke, lead for NASA’s Meteoroid Environments Office. “Instead, you’re probably going to see 10 to 20 per hour or fewer, and that’s because we have a bright Moon in the sky washing out the fainter meteors.”
The Moon rises at 10:30pm, so there will be a window where you may be able to catch some meteors between sunset and moonrise.
According to NASA, the best chance to see the Perseids meteor shower will be between 2-3 am.
Where do these Meteors Come From?
According to local dark sky expert Larry Smith, the Perseids Meteor Showers is “made of tiny space debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle. The Perseids are named after the constellation Perseus. This is because the direction, or radiant, from which the shower seems to come in the sky lies in the same direction as Perseus. That would be NORTHEAST for us.”
Perseids are also known for their fireballs. Fireballs are larger explosions of light and color that can persist longer than an average meteor streak.
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