The biggest meteor shower of the year is just a few more sleeps away. Fortunately the Moon shouldn’t be too big of an issue so we will get to see some pretty awesome streaks in the night sky. If you have never tried to see a meteor shower before, I would definitely recommend this one. It is one of the most prolific and therefore can guarantee some easy to spot shooting stars. Let’s get to the details on how to watch.
WHEN is it?
The Perseids are famous for their strong peak which takes place on the mornings of August 11th, 12th, and 13th this year. You can spot the most Perseids during the predawn hours. The Moon will rise at around midnight/1 am these nights meaning it is close to a third quarter Moon (half lit up). So it could be worth it to try a late night peek. I wouldn’t try much earlier than 11 pm as the constellation won’t be high enough in the sky. Another possible solution is to wait until later in the month past the peak when the moon is rising later, so from the 13th on. By the 18th there is a new Moon so no light from the Moon will outshine meteors.
WHERE should you look?
If you are able to watch the shower during the predawn hours from 3:00 am to twilight, you don’t need to worry about this part as the constellation will be overhead. But if you are like me and rather check out showers during more reasonable times, you will need to know the general direction the meteors are radiating from. The Perseids, like many other meteor showers, are named after the constellation they originate from: Perseus (this means if you were to trace every streak backwards they would all point towards this constellation). So from about midnight to 3:00 am it will be helpful to know in which direction of the sky to look. Now if you are not that confident with constellations, you can use an app (like the one I suggested). Search for the constellation Perseus and use the app to figure out where the constellation is. You can even figure out when it rises and sets. If you use the app I do, make sure you turn on ‘sky object trajectories’ and use that as a guide for where the star (or constellation) will be at a certain time. It should be on automatically but in case it is not, it is the button on the upper right of the settings (as shown on the right). Remember to look around; these meteors don’t stay too close to their radiant point and it can get frustrating focusing on one place for too long. You can also try to find earthgrazers in the early hours of the shower which look like stones skipping across the horizon.
WHAT are the meteors made of?
Similar to most meteor showers, the Perseid meteors are remnants of a comet that has crossed Earth’s path. These remnants are from comet Swift-Tuttle, a comet that only makes its way by us once every 133 years. The remnants generally stay in the same location of Earth’s orbit, so Earth comes crashing into these remnants every year; however, this year Jupiter gave them a little nudge pushing some of them more directly into Earth’s orbit. This is what is causing the exceptionally large number of Perseids during the outburst. Jupiter is such a massive planet that it isn’t uncommon for its gravity to influence comets, asteroids, and satellites’ orbits by pushing and pulling them in one direction or another.
If the weather isn’t looking great or you are not able to go outside, Slooh has a live stream on their YouTube channel that starts at 8/12 7:00 pm EDT (23:00 UTC); the great thing about Slooh is that they have multiple telescopes in different parts of the world so weather isn’t much of an issue and they have narrated portions so you can learn about the shower from the experts themselves while searching for meteors.
Happy Observing!
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