The Perseid meteor shower promises to put on a dazzling display in the night sky - if you don't want to miss it, here's how you can see it
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The Perseid meteor shower is considered the best of the year(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)
The Perseid summer light show is back and, in good news for observers, the viewing conditions are particularly promising this year in the Northern Hemisphere.
The meteor shower is expected to peak on Wednesday night, going into Thursday morning, and will coincide with a total eclipse taking place all over Spain, Iceland, and Greenland.
In addition, observers are lucky as a six-planet parade will occur in the skies on the very same night.
As many as 50 to 100 meteors per hour could be seen under ideal condition, according to NASA. The American Meteory Society estimates 30 to 50 meteors per hour will be visible in rural areas.
While random meteors tend to be visible in the skies on any given night, a meteor shower is quite the display and tend to put on a dazzling celestial show.
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The next time the Perseids are scheduled to Earth us 2125(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
What is the Perseid meteor shower?
The Perseids is considered the best meteor shower. The Perseids aren’t scheduled for a return visit to Earth until 2125.
The Perseids are caused by the Earth slamming into the debris left behind by comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, which comes back around every year.
As comets get close to the sun, they heat up and pieces of it break off. If the debris ends up in the Earth’s path around the sun , it can slam into our atmosphere - causing the meteor shower.
The average speed for a Perseid meteor is 36 miles per second, with the air in front of it squashed down and heated to thousands of degrees celsius. That’s why fireballs are common with the Perseids.
Observations of this meteor date back more than 2,000 years, making them a perennial favorite as they tend to produce impressive fireballs.
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The Perseids are known for their impressive firebombs(Image: VCG via Getty Images)
How to spot the Perseid meteor shower
To spot the meteors, observers are advised to go outside after dark, away from the clouds and city lights polluting the sky.
The best views are expected between midnight and dawn, when the constellation Perseus is high in the norther sky.
As a result of their placing, the meteors will appear to radiate from that constellation.
Give your eyes around 30 minutes to adjust to the darkness, if you really want to catch the best sight of it possible.
Astronomer Zach Vanderbosch, with McDonald Observatory in Texas, recommends choosing a patch of sky to focus on until a quick, bright streak passes by.
Even if it’s in your peripheral vision, you should avoid looking at your phone the whole time you're comet gazing in an effort to let your eyes stay adjusted.