As the Two-Way has reported, “The Perseids, the dusty debris of Comet Swift-Tuttle, whisk through our upper atmosphere every August”.
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The meteor will originate near the constellation Perseus in the northeast, but they’ll streak across the sky.
The Perseid meteor shower is happening right now and NASA says it’s expected to be one of the best in years. According to NASA, this will make the shower’s peak much easier to view due to the lack of moonlight obscuring the shooting stars. When the tiny chunks of rock crash through the Earth’s atmosphere and burn up, they leave trails of light that we see as meteors. So with up to 80 shooting stars an hour, there’s every chance of catching a glimpse of the spectacular light show overhead. But the meteor shower has even produced stunning results in less optimal conditions.
“Either find a park or a school yard that’s nearby, and, as long as you don’t have direct lights hitting your face, then you’ll be able to see some of the brighter meteors”, Mortfield told the Star. However this year the show is there in its full splendor since it will be a new moon night.
Meteor showers just touch people in a special way, said planetary scientist Sheila Kanani of the Royal Astronomical Society in London.
“The best thing is you don’t need a telescope”, he added.
The annual summer meteor shower will peak after sunset on Aug. 12 and into the early morning hours on Aug. 13. You can experience one meteor per minute at the peak of this episode of the meteor shower.
The best time to view a meteor shower is early in the morning, a few hours before sunrise when the sky is darkest. The brightest of the meteors, named fireballs and Perseids have been known to produce a lot of fireballs.
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The video begins at 10 p.m. Eastern time, and will continue until 2 a.m. Eastern time on Thursday.
