This year will be a great year for watching the Perseid meteor shower — the Moon is in a relatively dark phase right now, the peak rate this year will be rather high, and as noted before there seem to be a lot of fireballs this year — so I’d really recommend making the time if you can.
The meteor shower has been predicted to hit a peak rate of
about 70-100 meteors an hour this year — it may end up a good bit higher than
that though. The best time to watch will be sometime in the early morning —
ideally sometime around 2-4 AM, that’s probably the best bet. The meteors will
appear to be originating out of the constellation of Perseus — which is located
in the Northeastern portion of the night sky, as seen from the Northern
Hemisphere during the month of August. You’ll see meteors regardless of which
part of the sky you’re watching though. The meteor shower will reach peak rates
between August 10 – 13, but they’re visible throughout most of August.
A couple of notes:
- The Northern Hemisphere will get a relatively better show than the Southern Hemisphere — but not by too much, both hemispheres are good to watch from.
- Try to get comfortable. A good comfortable reclining chair, warm clothes or blankets, coffee, etc, all make the experience more enjoyable.
- Get as far from the city, and city lights, as you can — bright city lights greatly limit the number of meteors that you will see. Find the darkest sky that you can.
- You’ll need to give your eyes time to adjust to the dark in order to see many meteors. So turn off or dim your electronic devices.
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