Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls - In this 30 second exposure, a meteor streaks across the sky during the annual Perseid meteor shower Friday, Aug. 12, 2016 in Spruce Knob, West Virginia.

The best meteor shower of the year is upon us - the Perseids. This year we are expecting as many as 100 Perseids an hour on August 11-12. The best time to observe the shower is during the hours before sunrise on Thursday morning. Since this shower lasts from July 17 to August 24 you can see Perseid meteors before and after the peak. The Perseids are the debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle which has a 133 year orbit around our Sun.

One good way to view meteors is to just lie down and watch the sky in a dark place. August nights can sometimes be cool depending on your location so as well as a blanket or lounge chair to lie on you might want to bring a jacket, your favourite hot drink and bug spray. This year though some places are seeing unseasonable warm nights so best to check your local forecast. If you can let your eyes get adjusted to the dark before you go out to look for meteors. You can do this by avoiding bright lights including looking at your phone for 30 minutes. Even if the weather doesn’t cooperate on the night of your first choice there will be other chances to watch the Perseids.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL - An outburst of Perseid meteors lights up the sky in August 2009 in this time-lapse image.

The radiant (where the meteors appear to originate) is in the constellation called Perseus, hence the name Perseids. The constellation Perseus rises higher in the sky as the night progresses so observing later, after 2am, means you will see more meteors. This year the phase of the moon is in our favour so we should be able to see fainter meteors than in previous years.

As well as the Perseids there are also sporadic meteors at the rate of a few per hour. You may also catch a meteor from a weaker shower that is active right now as well (Alpha Capricornids, Southern Delta Aquariids, and Kappa Cygnids). If you can note which constellation the meteor appears to originate from you can distinguish between the different showers and sporadic meteors.

The Perseids are also known for producing the most fireballs of any meteor shower. A fireball is defined as a bright meteor that has survived its entry through the earth’s atmosphere and scientists are very interested in locating meteorites from it (https://www.imo.net/observations/fireballs/fireballs/). As well as human observations many fireballs have been caught on dash cams and security cameras. Some fireballs also produce a sonic boom a second or two after they pass overhead. The colour of a fireball is an important observation as it is dependent on the chemical composition of the meteor.

If you spot a fireball you can report it to the American Meteor Society https://www.amsmeteors.org/fireballs/ or the International Meteor Organization https://www.imo.net/observations/fireballs/fireball-report-program/. NASA also has a database of fireballs here https://fireballs.ndc.nasa.gov/skyfalls/.

References and further reading.

https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/astronomy/tips-tricks/perseids.asp

https://blogs.nasa.gov/Watch_the_Skies/2021/08/09/how-many-perseids-will-i-see-in-2021/

https://blogs.nasa.gov/Watch_the_Skies/2020/08/06/perseids-peak-watch-best-meteor-shower-of-the-year/
https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-perseid-meteor-shower

https://www.amsmeteors.org/

https://www.imo.net/

https://fireballs.ndc.nasa.gov/

https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/meteor-shower/en/ (NASA’s Space Place is a great place to explore science with your kids)