NASA recommends going outside between midnight and dawn on Friday morning.
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The 2016 Perseid meteor shower is expected by many experts in astronomy to be a more active event.
“Under ideal conditions, rates could soar to 200 meteors per hour”, Cooke said. Thanks to a gravity nudge from Jupiter, debris from comet Swift-Tuttle could stray closer to Earth again.
The annual Perseid meteor shower is anticipated to be one of the best meteor viewing opportunities of the year. As the Earth moves around the sun, it sometimes encounters a rich lode of debris when it crosses the path of a comet. Every piece of the meteor is a small chunk of the comet, which disintegrates into small flashes of light when they enter Earth’s atmosphere. The reason they are called the Perseids is because they seem to radiate from the constellation Perseus.
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. It’ll be easiest to see the meteors after the moon sets in the early hours of Friday, according to NASA.
In South Florida, if the clouds are in check, the only obstacle left is light pollution. Lie on your back and look straight up. And if that doesn’t work out, you can still watch a live stream of the shower here. If the area is clouded out Friday morning, there is an even better chance of clear skies overnight Friday to Saturday.
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Don’t get discouraged either after looking up for 10 minutes and not seeing anything, allow about 30 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the dark, and try to get away from city lights and buildings; Savannah or anywhere near a road with lamp lights is not conducive for seeing the sky show.
