Look Up! Perseid Meteor Shower

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 Saturday night, but all week you have pretty good chances of seeing a few "shooting stars". There has been a false claim circulating on social media that this shower will "light up the night sky" and that it will be the best meteor shower ever seen. This is not true. This shower is almost always a good one, but it will not be the best in the history of the Earth. So what's really 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 grains, 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.

False claims about this shower:

Unfortunately, this article falsely claiming that this year's Perseid shower will be the best in recorded human history has been passed all around social media. It's especially sad since the website looks reputable; it has the words physics and astronomy right in the web address. However, the article is full of over blown and false predictions about the shower. 

False Claim: It will be the brightest meteor shower in human history. 
Truth: The Perseids are usually a reliable shower with bright meteors. However, this year the Moon will wash out the light of some meteors, making it a little less spectacular than other years. 

False Claim: It will light up the night sky and some of these might even be visible during the day.
Truth: Nope. The only time meteors are visible during the day is when a very large one has entered our atmosphere. This does happen, but there is no reason to think that it will happen during this shower. 

False Claim: This meteor shower is being considered as once in a lifetime opportunity as the next meteor shower of such kind will be after 96 years. [sic]
Truth: We will have another Perseid shower this time next year, the next time the Earth passes through the comet trail. The above claim is just entirely made up.

There is also a false meme being shared around: 

Full of hyperbole and false information. If you see this shared, do the world a service and point out it is false!

These false claims are unfortunate, because they will get people excited for something that just will not happen. Disappointed people then may be less likely to enjoy real astronomical phenomena, like meteor showers, lunar eclipses, or the upcoming total solar eclipse. However, there is plenty of interesting real information about the meteor shower, and it is worth watching, even if it will not light up the whole sky.

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 year, the Moon is going to be pretty high during the peak of the shower, and a waning gibbous, so you will have to contend with its light washing out the meteors. The Moon rises at about 11 PM, so you might be able to see meteors better between sunset and moonrise. Unfortunately the peak of the shower is in the hours after midnight and before dawn, when the Moon will be brightening up the sky. If you are observing through moonlight, 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 times to watch will be the nights of Thursday, August 10 through Saturday August 12. 

When Perseus is highest in the sky, the Moon will also be high, and could wash out the meteors.

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. 

If you can, travel to the path of totality to see the total solar eclipse! If you are not able to travel, come watch the partial eclipse with us here in Peoria.