The Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks This Weekend and It’s Even Better This Year

NEW YORK (AP) — The annual Perseid meteor bathe reaches its peak this weekend, sending vibrant trails of sunshine streaking throughout the evening sky.

With solely a sliver of moon within the sky, situations this yr can be supreme for seeing a lot of meteors.

“If you happen to’ve acquired good clear climate and darkish sky, you exit simply earlier than daybreak and also you’ll see a Perseid per minute or so,” stated NASA meteor scientist Invoice Cooke. “That’s a fairly good present.”

Here is easy methods to watch the meteor bathe:

The Perseids — one of many greatest meteor showers we will see — happen yearly within the late summer season. Meteor showers occur when the Earth strikes by way of fields of particles floating round in area. The Perseids come from comet Swift-Tuttle, an enormous ball of ice and rock that sheds items of dusty particles because it orbits across the solar. When the Earth passes by, these bits get caught in our environment and dissipate, creating the streaking lights. The Perseids get their identify from the constellation Perseus, as a result of the meteors’ paths seem to begin out from this level within the sky.

This yr’s bathe is already lively, however the principle occasion can be this weekend, when the bathe reaches its peak from Saturday evening into Sunday morning. Beginning round 11 p.m. native time Saturday, a number of meteors will begin to present up — possibly one each quarter-hour, Cooke estimated. They’ll hold choosing up the tempo till earlier than daybreak on Sunday, when “you’ll see meteors seem in all places,” he stated.

Throughout this weekend’s peak, the moon can be a waning crescent — only a small slice within the sky. That’s excellent news as a result of a vibrant moon could make it tougher to identify the meteors. Final yr, the moon was full through the peak. Anybody within the Northern Hemisphere could have view this yr, so long as the sky is evident of sunshine air pollution and clouds. You don’t want any gear to see them, however you will want to provide your eyes round half an hour to regulate to the darkish. Keep away from taking a look at your cellphone since that may wreck your evening imaginative and prescient.

The Perseids can seem wherever within the sky. So simply “lie in your again, look away from the moon and soak up as a lot sky as you’ll be able to,” Cooke stated.

The Related Press Well being and Science Division receives assist from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Academic Media Group. The AP is solely chargeable for all content material.

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This materials is probably not revealed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.