The meteor shower is caused when debris from this Swift-Tuttle comet crosses pass with Earth and flies into our atmosphere. There are trillions of these small particles (Swift-Tuttle makes quite a handsome mess in the universe) that disappear in flashes of light when they hit Earth’s atmosphere.
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If you oversleep and miss the event on Thursday evening into Friday morning, increased activity may also be seen on the morning of August 13. You should be outside 45 minutes beforehand and lie on the ground to adjust your eyes to the darkness, according to NASA. Increased activity may also be seen on August 12-13.
Named because they seem to radiate from the constellation Perseus, this meteor shower will peak tonight Thursday August 11th through Friday August 12th.
With an outburst of meteors forecast – double the usual rate – the annual meteor shower is one no sky gazer will want to miss. A major determining factor on where a good place is to watch the Perseids meteor shower is local cloud cover and artificial light pollution. When bits of dust and debris from the comet’s tail brush against earth’s atmosphere, they ignite, creating the streaks of light seen at ground level – or shooting stars.
The 2016 Perseids meteor shower is already upon us, but Thursday and Friday night’s showers, in particular, will collectively be one extraodinary sight. Just get away from as much city light as you can (not too hard for us in Arizona!). During the event, astronomers predicted that about 50 to 60 meteors would be visible every hour.
The best meteor shower watching advice is to get comfortable and see what happens.
The meteors are travelling at speeds of up to 132,000 miles per hour when they hit the Earth’s atmosphere.
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The Live stream is great for people who are experiencing cloudy or polluted skies and would not be able to clearly see the meteor shower otherwise.
