That’s twice as many meteors as a normal meteor shower! The last Perseid outburst was in 2009, so Joseph admits he’s excited. That’s double the usual rate, though some dispute whether this year’s Perseids will be particularly special.
Advertisement
The Perseids are expected to offer one of the best meteor showers in years.
“Unfortunately, tonight it may take a while for the clouds to clear out”, said meteorologist Matthew Dux. Occasionally, though, Jupiter’s gravity tugs the huge network of dust trails closer, and Earth plows through closer to the middle, where there’s more material.
The shower will enter the Earth’s upper atmosphere at around 130,000mph, lighting up the night sky as fast-moving streaks of light, so they may be hard to photograph but read our tips in the link below. The meteors will appear to emanate from the constellations Perseus (hence the name) and Cassiopeia.
The night spanning Friday, August 12 into Saturday, August 13, is also a good time to catch them, NASA says.
The shower is best observed from 11pm or midnight onwards, when you may see up to 100 meteors per hour. “All you have to do is just recline back and look up at the sky”. The Perseids are dust bits from Comet Swift-Tuttle and are famous for creating bright fireballs and elevated meteor activity for almost two weeks in mid-August. Find the darkest sky you can, away from city lights and make yourself comfortable.
This NASA photo shows a 30 second exposure meteor as it streaks across the sky during the annual Perseid meteor shower, August 12, 2016, in Spruce Knob, West Virginia.
If you can’t get out of town or it ends up being too cloudy, you can visit NASA’s site for a live Ustream both tonight and tomorrow starting at 10 p.m.
Advertisement
Even though the southwest Colorado sky is already very dark, Butler said the best viewing will come in the predawn hours, after the moon has set.
