The Perseids meteor shower is visible from July 17 to August 24 every year and is set to peak overnight Wednesday, August 12 this year. The further from a city and its plentiful urban lights you can get the better. Meteors will be visible starting around 10PM, but the best time to catch the bright, streaming shooting stars will be just before dawn on Wednesday or Thursday.
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The meteor shower poses no threat to us on earth as most of the small bits of debris are vaporized as they travel through the upper atmosphere. Most of the light you see is not from the meteor itself, but from the ionization of the super heated air.
NASA suggests looking toward the constellations Cassiopeia and Perseus in the northeastern part of the sky to better view the spectacular show.
What makes the event so special is that it will happen the day before the new moon meaning that the sky will be in its darkest state making it ideal for meteor shows.
The meteors will streak across the sky at about 60 kilometres per second from near the constellation Perseus that the meteor shower is named for.
Every year, Earth’s orbit around the Sun carries it through a cloud of dusty, rocky debris left in the wake of Comet Swift-Tuttle. “You’ll see a lot more this year”.
Experts say that this year has the best conditions for viewing the shower.
What is the Perseid meteor shower? If you’re in a dark place it shouldn’t take long to see the sights. In 2015, as always, the Perseid meteors will be building to a peak from early August until the peak nights; afterwards, they drop off fairly rapidly.
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No. The Perseids can be seen with the naked eye, but they come in occasional showers so you may need to be patient.
