Article content continued

And we get a meteor shower.

The Perseids are from the debris shed by the comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the Sun once every 130 years. The Earth crosses this path in August. Due to perspective (the same effect that makes raindrops always seem to be coming from ahead of you when you drive a car through a rain shower) the meteors appear to come from a point in the sky in the constellation of Perseus, near the W-shape of Cassiopeia. They radiate away from there, so that point in the sky is called the radiant, and the shower gets its name from the constellation.

I’ve written guides to watching meteors showers before, and specifically for the Perseids in 2013 and 2007, and both are still valid for this year’s shower. Even so, I tend to get a lot of questions via email and social media about how to watch the shower. Below are some of the questions I usually see—the answers make a pretty good guide to experiencing the shower, so check ’em out.

By the way, I did a whole episode of Crash Course Astronomy on meteors. It’s not specific to the Perseids, but it’s chock full o’ fun science.

Now, on to the FAQ!

When is the best time to watch?

Technically, the meteor shower starts around July 17 and lasts until late August. Realistically, though, it peaks over the week centered around Aug. 12–13. This year, the best time to watch is Wednesday night after local midnight (that’s when your part of the Earth is facing into the oncoming meteoroids and you see more). However, Tuesday or Thursday night will be fine, too. The later you wait in the evening the better, but even a couple of hours after dark will be fine. Even better, the Moon is near the Sun this whole week, so it won’t blanket the night sky with light like it does some years. That means darker skies all night long.