Meteorites will fly across the sky this year

The Perseids meteor shower can be seen annually from mid-July to September 1. This year, it will peak around the night of August 12 and the morning of August 13. Up to 100 meteors are expected per hour, traveling at speeds of 214,365 km/h.

Bill Cooke, director of NASA's Meteorite Environment Office, describes the Perseids as the most prolific meteor shower of the year, with its dazzling streaks of fireballs streaking across the atmosphere. Cooke said it's almost like "a fireworks display in the sky every year."

A meteor will fly across the sky tonight. How to see it? Image 1 — Perseid meteor shower in the night sky on August 14, 2023, in Ratnapura, Sri Lanka. Photo: NurPhoto

Unusually bright meteors, fireballs can be over 1 meter in diameter and brighter than Venus, according to NASA and Cooke. Venus is one of the brightest objects in the night sky.

These fireballs are “brighter than any star or planet in the sky,” said Robert Lunsford, fireball reporting coordinator for the American Meteor Society. Like man-made fireworks, fireballs “tend to leave a persistent trail of light in the sky that looks like smoke and slowly dissipates within seconds of the meteor disappearing,” Lunsford said.

Cooke said this year is ideal for meteor viewing because the moonlight won’t obscure the meteors, allowing viewers to see both the bright and dim meteors. He said the conditions are good for watching the entire shower this year. Last year, the moonlight obscured the dim meteors.

In 1865, Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli discovered that the Perseids meteor shower was the result of the Earth passing through debris trails originally created by the comet Swift-Tuttle.

The meteor shower gets its name from the location in the sky where it originates, near the constellation Perseus. This constellation can be identified using a stargazing app, which can help viewers pinpoint the exact start point of the meteor shower.

How to watch Perseids

Cooke offers four tips for optimal viewing. You don’t need equipment like a telescope or binoculars, but find the darkest sky possible without light pollution. If possible, lie on your back and look straight up. Give your eyes 30 to 45 minutes to adjust to the darkness. “Don’t look at your phone,” Cooke says, “because the screen will ruin your night vision and keep your eyes from seeing the sky.”

Lunsford suggests bringing a comfortable chair so you can lie back and enjoy the view, taking in the sky as you go. Lunsford says staying away from light sources at your viewing location will help you see more meteors, since most are faint. Otherwise, you’ll only see the brightest ones.

The best time to view the meteor shower is after midnight around 2 a.m., when the source of the meteors will be highest in the northeastern sky, both experts said.

Any stargazer can see the shower in the Northern Hemisphere, but "it peaks later, so the best place to see it is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Hawaii," Lunsford said. He added that the Perseids are not visible in Antarctica because the bright light never appears in the sky there.