While they are already glittering across the evening sky, the most popular meteor shower is about to reach its peak, with a chance of large fireballs exploding against the black backdrop of night.
The Perseid meteor shower has already streaked across the sky since July 17 and will continue until Aug. 23, but they should reach peak speed and volume between Aug. 12 and 13, according to NASA. The best time to check out the Perseids is during the pre-dawn hours, but astronomers suggest viewing them as early as 10 p.m.
As the Perseids appear, they typically leave behind long “wakes,” or brief glows of light and color behind them, the space agency stated. The meteor shower typically has around 25 meteors fly through the sky per hour, but as many as 50 to 100 can be seen
“Perseids are also known for their fireballs,” NASA stated on its website. “Fireballs are larger explosions of light and color that can persist longer than an average meteor streak. This is due to the fact that fireballs originate from larger particles of cometary material.”
For these reasons, NASA said that astronomers consider the Perseids as the best and most popular meteor showers of the year.
So, where in the night sky can stargazers spot the Perseids? The shower’s radiant point, or the placement of where a celestial object is in the night sky, is in the direction of the constellation Perseus, NASA stated.
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