Perseid meteor shower peaks Wednesday. Here's what to know
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If you’re like me, you got your first taste of the upcoming Perseid meteor shower on Google. If you search the fireball show on the search engine, you get a mock-up set of shooting stars.
The annual meteor shower is thought by many space enthusiasts to be the best of the year.
Everyone with a passing interest in space or science should experience meteor showers. There’s even a Minnesota angle this week: Astronaut and Twin Cities native Anil Menon is on the International Space Station.
Hoping to see the Perseids Wednesday into Thursday? Here’s what to know.
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Origin story
“When comets come around the Sun, the dust they emit gradually spreads into a dusty trail around their orbits,” according to NASA. “Every year the Earth passes through these debris trails, which allows the bits to collide with our atmosphere where they disintegrate to create fiery and colorful streaks in the sky.”
The Perseids originate from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. Comet Swift-Tuttle is humongous — 16 miles across for the center of the blend of ice and rock, or “more than twice the size of the object hypothesized to have led the demise of the dinosaurs,” NASA says.
Swift-Tuttle takes 133 years to go around the Sun but we see impacts each August when Earth passes through the comet’s debris field.
“With swift and bright meteors, Perseids frequently leave long ‘wakes’ of light and color behind them as they streak through Earth's atmosphere,” according to NASA. “The Perseids are one of the most plentiful showers with about 50 to 100 meteors seen per hour.”
Go dark
Theoretically, you’ll be able to see the meteor shower from anywhere, but optimally your physical location should be in a really dark area away from city lights and tree canopies.
While the Perseids meteor shower radiates from the northeastern sky, appearing to emerge from the constellation Perseus, you can really be looking anywhere in the sky. It might be best to just lie flat on your back, on a blanket, and just look up!
Cloud-wise, it does look to be clearer in northern Minnesota. Hopefully these are just wispy cirrus clouds!
Stay up late, and early
There are some shooting stars present as I type this but the peak is Wednesday night after 11 p.m. into early Thursday morning. Just plan to stay up Wednesday night. You won’t regret it! And you do not need a telescope.
Picture this?
Some modern smartphones may be able to capture the Perseids but don’t be too concerned on getting the right shot in real time. That’s for the pros, and even they’d need to be lucky.
You could set up a really long exposure shot on your DSLR and that works really well! Otherwise, just find that dark area Wednesday night.
