The annual Perseid meteor shower is about to take center stage, and stargazers are eagerly awaiting the out-of-this-world display.
The Perseid meteor shower is hitting its peak August 12th-13th. Viewers can see roughly 40-50 meteors per hour, according to NASA. However, with a waning gibbous moon brightening the night sky, visibility will be reduced.
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“You’re probably going to see 10 to 20 meteors per hour or fewer, as the bright Moon will wash out the fainter ones,” Bill Cooke, lead of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office, said.
For your viewing pleasure
But don’t let that stop you from gazing upon this spectacle. There are ways to get the perfect viewing experience.
Here are some helpful tips:
- You can catch meteors as early as 10 p.m., it is recommended the best time is between 1-5 a.m. local time while looking north, with the moon at your back.
- Much like the sun, avoid staring directly at the moon.
- Go to a rural spot with a wide view of the sky where you can see plenty of stars.
- Allow your eyes to become adapted to the dark, which can take up to an hour. Protect your night vision by using only ultra-dim light sources, like red lamps or red LEDs.
“The peak is the best time to view regardless of the situation with moonlight,” Robert Lunsford from the American Meteor Society said. “Rates fall by 50% each night after the peak, so by the time the moon is out of the way, there is little left to watch.”
How we have Perseids
The meteors are from the debris of the Swift-Tuttle comet, which has not been in our solar system since 1992. As Earth passes through the area of space debris left by the comet, the debris interacts with earth’s atmosphere and disintegrates. The results are colorful and fiery streaks in the sky.
NASA says Swift-Tuttle takes 133 years to complete its orbit around the sun. Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli was the first to identify it in 1865 as the source of the Perseids.
The meteor shower appears to come from the constellation Perseus, which is how the Perseids shower got its name.
A celestial firework display like none other, The Perseid meteor shower should not be missed. So grab a blanket, find a dark spot, and make a wish on one of those beautiful shooting stars.
