For Science: The Greatest Shows in the Night Sky

Miss the Perseids? No. There's still lots to see. Here's how

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Scott Sutherland

Meteorologist/Science Writer

Thursday, August 13, 2015, 1:17 PM - Did you miss the peak of the Perseid meteor shower? Don't fret. Check out the amazing photographs captured by Weather Network fans, and keep watching the skies on the nights to come. It's What's Up In Space!

The Perseid meteor shower - the annual light show that streaks across our skies every summer - reached its peak on the night of Wednesday, August 12, filling the night with hundreds of meteor flashes from dusk until dawn.

Getting outside to take in the show is highly recommended, even now, after the peak. The night of August 13 typically offers around 40-50 meteors per hour, under ideal viewing conditions, with a dozen or more per hour still visible in the days following. Also, the meteor shower persists until August 24, although with fewer meteors per hour each night as the month progresses.

Clear skies are essential for viewing the meteor shower. For anyone who still wants to check out the show, the animation below for Canada's sky conditions for the rest of the week, and be sure to check your local forecast for an update before you head outside.

What is the Perseid meteor shower and what can we expect?

The Perseid meteor shower occurs every July and August, as Earth passes through the stream of meteoroid debris - tiny bits of ice and rock - left behind by the passage of Comet Swift-Tuttle through the inner solar system.

Although the shower starts in mid-July and lasts until late August, delivering from a few meteors per hour up to perhaps a few dozen per hour on most nights, on August 11, 12 and 13, Earth encounters the densest part of the debris stream. On these nights, the number of meteors seen in the sky jumps, to around 50 or more per hour, and can reach well over 100 per hour on the night of August 12.

For anyone trapped under cloudy skies or a wash of urban light pollution during the best parts of the shower, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and scientists from NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office (MEO), hosted a live feed of Wednesday night's view from Huntsville, Alabama. Along with the view, NASA meteor experts Bill Cooke, Danielle Moser and Rhiannon Blaauw added commentary throughout. Watch a replay of the show, which ran from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. ET, from the embedded video below:





What's so special about this year's meteor shower?

While the Perseids are known for being one of the four best meteor showers of the year (along with the Quadrantids, the Eta Aquariids and the Geminids), it stands out as the one that produces the most fireball meteors.



Fireball meteor seen over the Netherlands, on

Oct 13, 2009. Courtesy: Robert Mikaelyan

via National Geographic

Fireballs are exceptional meteors that flare up so brightly that they are only outshone by the Moon and the Sun!

How active have the Perseids been so far? It's not even the peak of the shower yet, but according to SpaceWeather.com, their network of meteor cameras caught 67 Perseid fireballs flashing across their view in just the past 24 hours, and nearly 250 fireballs over the past two weeks!

Meanwhile, joining the Perseids overhead, in a celestial dynamic duo, is the Delta Aquariid meteor shower. The peak of this meteor shower passed on July 28-29, however, viewing conditions were washed-out by a nearly Full Moon. The Delta Aquariids persist into August, however, so the shower should add some extra streaks of light to the show put on by the Perseids.

Additionally, viewing conditions this year are almost ideal, due to the almost complete absence of the Moon in the night sky. Whereas it was nearly full at the end of July, the Moon has dwindled to an extremely thin crescent now, which only becomes visible above the horizon just shortly before the Sun rises.

This gives skywatchers an excellent view of the meteor showers all night long!

WATCH BELOW: Science@NASA presents their yearly discussion of this, the best meteor shower of the year.

Best viewing?

The meteor showers become visible in the sky around 9:30 p.m. local time, when the Sun has fully set and the sky has gone dark. However, prime viewing times are typically after midnight and before sunrise, as these are the darkest hours of the night. By that time, the "radiants" of the showers - the point in the sky where the meteors appear to originate from - will be well above the horizon, and the only competing light in the sky will be any light pollution emitted from nearby urban areas.

The Delta Aquariids' radiant rises in the east and stays low in the southern sky as it crosses and sets in the west after sunrise. The radiant for the Perseids actually never sets for much of the northern hemisphere. Since the meteors appear to radiate out from near the constellation Perseus, which is far above the horizon during day and night this time of year, it's simply a matter of waiting until the sky is dark enough for the meteors to become visible.

The meteor radiants for the Delta Aquariids and the Perseids. Credit: Stellarium, with edits by author.

For best results, it is recommended that you sit or lie down, to make it easier to look straight up into the sky, and also having as much unobstructed view of the night sky as possible. Being as far away from city lights as possible will make the show even better, as urban light pollution will wash out all but the brightest meteors.

For an exceptional view, perhaps drive to a Dark Sky Preserve in your area.

Bring along a lawn chair or blanket so that you can sit comfortably or lie back to take in the whole sky, a jacket in case it gets chilly and some friends and/or loved ones to share the experience.

Viewing meteor showers takes a little patience, as you need to allow roughly 30 minutes for your eyes to adapt to the dark, in order to see the most meteors for your location, and for some areas closer to city lights, only the very brightest meteors (like fireballs) will be visible.

Interested in more amazing facts about the Perseids? NASA Meteor Watch presents this top ten list!

Some interesting facts about the Perseids! Posted by NASA Meteor Watch on Tuesday, 11 August 2015

And for one of the most unusual views of the Perseid meteor shower ever seen, follow this link to check out the view from the perspective of a Perseid meteoroid!

Sources: American Meteor Society | SpaceWeather.com | Royal Astronomical Society of Canada | Stellarium | NASA Meteor Watch