How to see the Perseid meteor shower that peaks tonight
TORONTO, ON., August 11, 2020 — Tonight’s the night that this year’s grandest display of “shooting stars” will reach its peak. When we say grand, we are talking about 100 meteors per hour! Although, there is no way you can see ALL of them and the brightness of the last quarter moon will lessen visibility, the pre-dawn hours of August 12 is the best time to see the meteors at their very peak. Of course those with less light pollution at their disposal will have the greatest views.
But don’t despair if you can’t watch the biggest show tonight as the Perseid meteor shower will continue throughout the week with about 60 meteors per hour on Wednesday night, 50 an hour on Thursday night, and fewer each night as August progresses.
According to NASA the Perseids are the absolute best meteor show of the year. “The Perseids, which peak during mid-August, are considered the best meteor shower of the year. With very fast and bright meteors, Perseids frequently leave long “wakes” of light and colour behind them as they streak through Earth’s atmosphere. The Perseids are one of the most plentiful showers (50-100 meteors seen per hour) and occur with warm summer nighttime weather, allowing sky watchers to easily view them,” say experts from NASA.
Perseids are renowned for their streaking fireballs across the sky. NASA says these are larger explosions of light and colour that can persist longer than an average meteor streak. This is due to the fact that fireballs originate from larger particles of cometary material. Fireballs are also brighter, with apparent magnitudes greater than -3.”
But don’t expect to see every single meteor as they vary in brightness and can appear anywhere in the night sky. You can expect to see at least one a minute though so take your usual stargazing night at the cottage and amplify it about tenfold tonight and this week.
When is the best time to see the Perseid Meteor Shower?
NASA says the Perseids are best viewed in the Northern Hemisphere (look to the north) during the pre-dawn hours of August 12, though at times it is possible to view meteors from this shower as early as 10 p.m. Experts also say the Perseid meteor shower will peak between 9 a.m. and noon on Wednesday, August 12, and that the premium time to watch, regardless of where you are in Canada, is in the predawn hours on Wednesday. Between sunset and midnight on Wednesday night is also a very good time.
The annual Perseid meteor display will be shooting across the GTA night sky until August 19th but the absolute peak viewing is Tuesday late at night. There will be some intermittent cloud cover tonight while Wednesday and Thursday night the forecast is for clear skies.
What is a meteor?
Meteors are basically leftover comet particles and large fragments from broken asteroids. When comets come around the sun, they leave a dusty trail behind them. According to NASA Every year Earth passes through these debris trails, which allows the bits to collide with our atmosphere and disintegrate to create fiery and colorful streaks in the sky.
story by Terry Lankstead
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