The spectacular Perseids meteor shower is about to peak, with forecasts anticipating that this year's show might be unusually impressive.
The shower is expected to hit its most active point at 4 a.m. EDT on Sunday August 13, with as many as 100 fireballs being seen per hour.
The Perseids started on July 17 this year, and will end on August 24, with meteors appearing to originate from their namesake: the constellation of Perseus. This year will make for particularly good viewing because of a new moon, which will mean less light pollution when spotting the meteors in the dark night sky.
The meteor shower occurs every year in July and August as a result of the Earth passing through a cloud of debris in its orbit, left by the comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. This comet, with a nucleus measuring 16 miles across, orbits the sun once every 133 years, having last passed by the Earth and sun in 1992.
As the comet approaches the sun, it warms up, leaving behind a plume of dust and debris in its wake, which the Earth passes through once a year. As these particles—most of which are only one-fifth of an inch across—enter the atmosphere at high speeds, they burn up on entry, creating beautiful streaks of light.
"Meteors or 'shooting stars' are the result of small pieces of natural space debris entering the Earth's atmosphere at high speed—60 km (37 miles) a second in this case—and burning up high in the atmosphere, around 80 km above the ground," Robert Massey, Deputy Executive Director at the Royal Astronomical Society, told Newsweek during last year's shower.
"Fragments of debris slam into the atmosphere, are rapidly destroyed by heat resulting from air resistance, and then the air around them glows momentarily. Dust in this stream is a lot denser than in most of interplanetary space, so instead of a few meteors an hour, we see a lot more," he said.
Those hoping to get a good look at the meteor shower should stay up late, or wake up early, to catch the 4 a.m. peak.
"For sure, the date of the peak is not to be missed," astronomer Gianluca Masi, who is with the Virtual Telescope Project, previously told Newsweek. "This year, on that day the moon will be only marginally visible at the very end of the night, so we will have very good observing conditions. The days around the maximum will be rewarding too."
The days on either side of the peak will also have a large number of meteors, so if the weather is overcast on the peak, you can hopefully catch the shower on another day.
Tips for viewing the shower include going out when there are as few clouds as possible and going to a dark open area away from city lights if possible. Avoid looking at light sources, including a phone, for around 20 minutes beforehand to get your eyes used to the darkness and help you spot the fainter meteors.
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Jess Thomson is a Newsweek Science Reporter based in London UK. Her focus is reporting on science, technology and healthcare. ... Read more
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