The weather forecast for the Hinckley and Bosworth area over the next few days is pointing towards no night time clouds and the moon only makes an appearance towards the end of the week. Fortunately, Earth passes through the cloud of the space debris created by the comet each year during the month of August, making comet dust enter Earth’s atmosphere at 37 miles per second giving people a stellar event.
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During this spell of peak activity, around 100 meteors or more may be seen every hour for those who are patient enough to wait.
A meteor shower can be seen when meteors burn and shine as they fall through the air. We see these burning particles as meteors or sometimes referred to as “shooting stars”.
The Perseid meteor shower gets its name because the meteors appear to originate from the constellation Perseus.
There’s also a new moon this week, which means the sky will be very dark and the meteors will be more visible.
The best day to see it in Milton Keynes is expected to be Tuesday and it is known as one of the brightest meteor showers of the year.
Even better, there’s no need to run out and purchase an expensive telescope to witness the light show. But you should be able to see some meteors in the evening as well. At its peak about 30-60 meteors can be seem each hour, though some astronomers are predicting many more than that. The best viewing time will be Wednesday night going into Thursday, when the meteors begin trickling into view just before midnight.
The Perseids derive their name from Perseides, which is Greek for the sons of Perseus.
In this case we are passing through the wake of Comet Swift-Tuttle.
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Your eyes can take as much as 20 minutes to adjust to the darkness, so taking your time (and putting your bright mobile phone away) can help in spotting the shower.
