The Perseid meteor shower is active from tonight, giving skywatchers in the U.S. and elsewhere an early look at one of the year’s most reliable displays. The real surge comes overnight on Aug. 12-13, when the shower is expected to peak under the dark skies of the new moon.
That matters because the difference is not cosmetic. Up to 100 shooting stars may be visible each hour at the peak, and the best counts usually come in the hours before dawn. In the U.S., viewers can start looking anytime after dark, with meteors possible from about 10 p.m. onward.
To catch them, observers should get well away from city lights and give their eyes at least 20 minutes to adjust. The pay-off is a cleaner sky than last year’s moonlit peak, when bright moonlight washed out all but the strongest streaks. This time, the moon should stay out of the way, leaving the shower far easier to see for anyone willing to wait in the dark.
The display is tied to Earth plunging through the trail of debris left by the icy comet Swift-Tuttle, which is why the Perseids return every year. Their meteors are known for vivid green fireballs and can travel at up to 37 miles per second, or 59 kilometers per second, as they burn through the atmosphere. The radiant sits close to Eta Persei in Perseus, a constellation visible above the northwestern horizon after dark.
There is one wrinkle in the sky calendar. The Aug. 12-13 peak coincides with a total solar eclipse, and a Perseid could, in theory, brighten the eclipse’s false twilight if a large fireball-producing meteoroid arrives at exactly the right moment. But the odds are not stacked in that favor, which leaves the meteor shower itself as the more certain show. For most viewers, the best bet is simple: wait for the dark, face away from city glow and watch the hours before dawn.
