Perseid meteor shower peaks on August 12 under excellent viewing conditions
Our planet is entering a stream of debris from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle — the source of Perseid meteor shower, active each year from July 17 to August 24. This will be your best chance to experience the shower until 2024.
The shower is expected to reach peak activity at around 19:00 UTC on August 12, making the best display after dusk (local time) on August 12.
At the peak, the shower could produce a nominal rate of about 150 meteors per hour. However, this zenithal hourly rate is calculated assuming a perfectly dark sky and radiant positioned directly overhead.
In 2021, the shower will peak close to the new moon, making way for the best chance to experience the shower until 2024.
In 2022, Perseids will peak with a full moon and lower meteor activity, and in 2023 under a waning crescent high in the sky.
In 2024, the Moon will be in Libra and around the first quarter phase at the shower's peak. However, it will set early enough to pose no interference later in the night.
The Perseids are fragments of the comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits between the Sun and beyond the orbit of Pluto once every 133 years.
Featured image credit: NASA
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