Perseid Meteor Shower - Outbursts Predicted!

Spend 10 minutes looking up after dark this week, and chances are that you will see the bright light of a meteor streaking across the sky. The Perseid meteor shower peaks on Thursday night, but all week you have pretty good chances of seeing a few "shooting stars". The Perseid shower is usually always a good one, but this year outbursts of up to 200 per hour are being predicted - it could be an excellent showing! So what's going on and how can you watch? Continue reading below.

Perseid Meteors over Mount Shasta. Image Copyright: Brad Goldpaint

 What is a meteor shower? 

Meteor showers happen when the Earth passes through the path of a comet. The Perseid shower is the result of Earth moving through the trail left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle. What we think of as shooting stars are really tiny bits of dust left behind by the comet. As the Earth passes through the dust trail, they hit the atmosphere at incredible speeds. The dust grains rapidly compress the air in front of them causing it to heat up and glow. This is the light that we see streaking across the sky. 

Image from my friend Peter Detterline's blog, The Night Sky Notebook.

When and how to watch:

To watch the meteors, it is best to get out of city lights. Find a safe, dark viewing spot and look up! This week, the Moon will brighten the sky until about midnight, so best viewing will probably be from about 1 AM to dawn. If you are not interested or able to stay up all night, try to find a position where the Moon's light is blocked by a building or other object - it will be easier to scan the sky. 

The best time to watch will likely be the night of Thursday, August 11 to the morning of Friday, August 12. Meteors are predicted to show at a rate of 150-200 an hour! Keep in mind that these predictions are not guaranteed, but as long as it is clear, it should be a good night to watch. Wednesday and Friday nights will also likely have high meteor rates.

The moon will brighten up the sky in the early evening, but will set around midnight. Image Credit: Stellarium and me.

Viewing the shower will probably be best in the hours before dawn, when the constellation of Perseus is highest in the sky. The Perseids are so named because they originate from the area of the sky marked by Perseus the Hero (see chart below) but you can see them all over the sky.

Perseus is high in the sky just before dawn in August. Image Credit: Me and Stellarium

If you watch in the early morning, you will have a chance to see Autumn and Winter constellations. Look a the chart above to see where you can find Orion, Pegasus, Andromeda, Taurus, and of course, Perseus! 

You don't need any special equipment to watch a meteor shower, in fact, a telescope or binoculars could actually restrict your view. Wear warm clothing, bring a reclining chair, and find a safe, dark spot, and look up! The most important tip to remember is to be patient. It could be 20 minutes before your eyes adjust to the dark enough for you to see the show. 

Enjoy the sky show this week! If you spot any great meteors, or capture any photos, share them with us on Facebook or Twitter. We'll be talking about the shower all week in our daily planetarium shows at the Dome Planetarium. 

On Saturday night, see dazzling lights in the planetarium before trying to spot some meteors.