The Stunning Perseid Meteor Shower Will Light Up Your Instagram This Weekend

Some forecasts are predicting that during its peak, meteor rates could be double the traditional rate expected for this shower that occurs each year around this time. As one slams into our upper atmosphere at more than 100,000 miles per hour, it disintegrates in a quick, but dramatic burst of light. The best spot? Head to a state or national park.

Dehne emphasized that simply walking out of your brightly lit house, looking up and expecting to see the meteor showers is not the way to get a good view of this “free show of nature”.

Because the Perseids shower occurs at a similar time as the Delta Aquarids shower, it can be confusing trying to understand which one you are seeing.

Few sights are as thrilling as the fiery spectacle known as a falling star, also called a shooting star or meteor. Astronomers can not predict exactly when or where a meteor will appear, but sky watchers head far from the city lights during mid-August each year to view one of the year’s most reliable displays: the Perseid meteor shower.

With the United Kingdom, visibility will be dependent on cloud cover and light pollution, and it goes without saying, that the darker the location the better, so much away from urban areas and light pollution.

It is hard to find ideal conditions in populated regions of the United States. The highest rates of meteors could be seen only in dark places. He said it is the first such outburst since 2009.

As always, to view a meteor shower, you don’t need to face any particular direction. The saint was burned to death in 258 AD for giving away the Church’s money to the poor, and it’s said the shooting stars are the sparks from that fire falling back to Earth.

As the Earth hurtles through space, every now and then it passes through trails of debris left behind by comets.

The Perseid meteor shower promises to be even more spectacular than usual this year. That’s right, a planet more than 600 million miles away at it’s furthest orbit has an effect on a meteor shower we see on Earth! As Earth moves through space, it hits this dust, and the debris descend into Earth’s atmosphere, burn up, and leave the dashes of light some call “shooting stars”.

Dehne said that while about a dozen meteor showers happen each year, the Perseid is “usually the best” because it happens in the summer and there are usually more meteors visible per hour.

In 2015, Cooke suggested that city-dwelling skywatchers should find a spot in the shadows and even look for a building that can block some artificial light for some added protection. “Increased activity may also be seen on August 12-13”, according to NASA.