The Perseid meteor shower lights up the Earth’s sky every summer about this time as our planet passes through the trail left be Comet Swift-Tuttle.
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The debris travels through the earth’s atmosphere and burns up, some are visible to the naked eye as meteors or “shooting stars”.
There will also be a live broadcast of the Perseid meteor shower on NASA’s Ustream page overnight August 11 to 12 and August 12 to 13 beginning at 9 p.m.
“The best times to view them will be after the moon goes down, and the moon sets kind of early”, Treece said. It was named after a constellation called Perseus which is the point where they appear as bright streaks of light whopping across a clear night sky. But shooting-star seekers can see the meteors pretty much anywhere. On Monday, the National Weather Service was predicting cloudy skies Thursday night, but it’s early yet.
It occurs every year between mid-July and late August.
In a normal year, those watching can see 60 to 100 meteors per hour. The only suggestion would be to bring a chair and dress warm.
Astronomer Bill Cooke from NASA’s Meteoroid Environments Office in Huntsville said that this year, under flawless conditions, we could be treated to up to a whopping 200 meteors every hour! So, this year would could be experiencing the Perseid Outburst instead of the Perseid Meteor Shower.
“Forecasters are predicting a Perseid outburst this year with double normal rates on the night of August 11-12”, said Bill Cooke with NASA’s Meteoroid Environments Office in Huntsville, Ala. This is because Earth will pass through the tail of the comet Swift-Tuttle.
The shower generally produces 80 meteors per hour.
“The Perseid meteor shower.is one of the best meteor showers of the year”, Whitehouse said.
Lie on your back.
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If you can’t get out to a dark area, or if clouds are in the way, you can also watch online through NASA MSFC’s Ustream channel here.
