Perseid Meteor Shower 2024

The Perseids in 2024 promise a favorable viewing on the nights of August 11th and 12th. This meteor shower is quite reliable in providing a dazzling display of beautiful meteors, but you need to stay up late if you want the full effect. And you will want to find a dark location with little to no ambient light or city lights, if possible. Finally, you will want to dress well, because even on a warm day the evening can cool down quickly and make viewing unpleasant. 

I have just published a podcast that outlines in detail the origin of the Perseids, the best way to view them, and other tips about this annual meteor shower. It is just a little over 20 minutes long and I think you will enjoy it. You can read more about the Perseids in this excellent article from Sky and Telescope. There are many online resources for more information, but you don't need to overcomplicate viewing of the meteor shower. The most important factors are a dark location, comfortable clothing, a place to sit or lie, a few good friends, and patience. You will see them, I can assure you. 

Give a listen to my Translunar Podcast here for more tips and inspiration. Wishing you clear skies and happy viewing. 

Image courtesy Sky & Telescope. 

Perseid Meteor Shower 2021

The Perseid radiant

The Perseids are upon us, literally. As the Earth sweeps around the Sun in its orbit, we gently glide through a region of space dust and debris, the remnants of a comet that passes through Earth's orbit every 133 years or so. And lucky for us, all of this debris is far too small to cause any damage to us on Earth, but big enough to light up the night sky every year. 

The Perseid Meteor shower in 2021 takes place over a two-day window on 11-12 August (through the morning of August 13th). The peak is expected to be late on the night of August 11th-12th. At the peak with very clear skies and dark conditions, you could see up to a meteor per minute. But that is an average, and sometimes you can have many minutes go by without any meteors, and then suddenly 2 or 3 all at once. So the best way to see the Perseids is to be patient, find a location with a broad horizon, and my favorite thing -- to do this in a group (even a group of two will do) since more eyes will see more meteors. I enjoy setting up the group to be looking in all different directions so we don't miss any meteors and even though no one person will see 100% of the meteors, we can all enjoy the excitement and fun with friends. Having a comfortable lounge chair and a blanket are a bonus and will enhance your viewing. 

As with every meteor shower, the viewing gets better after midnight when more meteors are flying into the atmosphere, so get lots of rest the night before and be ready for a long, relaxing night viewing one of the best meteor showers of the year. 

Lucky for us, we have a dark night for viewing the meteors, as the Moon is just a few days past New Moon phase and will set early in the evening. No light from the Moon makes the whole experience better. 

This article from Sky and Telescope is an excellent overview of the Perseids, not only tips how to best observe the shower, but why it happens every year and other interesting science. 

Image courtesy Sky and Telescope. 

Perseid Meteor Shower 2020

The Perseid Meteor Shower has already started and will peak over the coming days, on August 11, 12 and 13th. This shower is one of the most reliable meteor showers of the year and as it peaks during generally warm weather for the Northern Hemisphere, it's a pleasant and easy-to-watch astronomical event that can captivate and amaze. 

Seeing the Perseids: seeing any meteor shower is easy, but getting the most out of the evening takes a little planning. First of all, you want to find dark skies, ideally away from city lights. Second, you need to reduce all local lighting to a minimum, including houselights and if possible, streetlights (for example, move to a part of a garden or park where streetlights are not directly visible). Third, you need a comfortable place to relax, ideally on a recliner chair or on a blanket on the ground so you can simply look up in all directions. Finally, you need to have warm clothing because even after a warm day the evening temperatures can drop quite quickly and if you are lying still in the open air, you will very quickly feel the effects and the Perseids will lose their appeal. 

There are two more factors that has a big impact on seeing the Perseids, one you cannot control (the phase of the Moon) and one you can (when to watch). The Perseids in 2020 are better positioned than some years because the Moon will not rise until well after midnight, allowing more viewing time in the late evening and early morning hours. In general, the best time to watch any meteor shower is after midnight (for reasons you can read about here), so your best bet is to get out late evening to start your viewing, and stay out until the moon rises (if you can stay awake that long!). 

Why are the Perseids so reliable? The Perseids, like most annual meteor showers, are caused when the Earth travels through a debris field that is also orbiting the Sun. In the case of the Perseids, the debris field is from Comet Swift-Tuttle. The American Meteor Society has an excellent article that explains some of the science of the Perseids, if you want to learn more. 

Best of luck, and clear skies! 

Image courtesy of NASA. 

Perseid Meteor Shower 2017

The annual Perseid Meteor Shower will peak August 11 - 13, offering patient viewers a chance to see 10s or even 100s of meteors per hour if you view from a dark location. The Perseid shower is one of the year's best meteor showers, reliably delivering the twinkling and elusive flits of light that dash across the sky in sheer silence, sometimes in the north, south, east or west. Meteor showers are not for the impatient, but rather require a viewer to relax and enjoy the glorious summer night sky and simply stare up and wait while the Earth plunges through a rich meteor stream. From your location on the planet you need to simply have a big view (the more unobstructed, the better) and somewhat or very dark skies, and then some degree of focus on .... well ... nothing. Just by looking up and gazing, you will see the meteors.

Meteor Shower

Meteors have a delightful and tantalising way of appearing with a burst of light, moving at incredible speed for maybe 1/4 or 1/2 second, and then vaporising and flickering out as fast as they arrived. During a shower like the Perseids, you can rest assured that they are happening all around you all the time but the majority are just too small and too faint for our eyes to perceive. And you can also rest assured that many more are happening outside of your line of sight, as they may appear behind you or to your left or right and elude detection. So one of my favourite ways to see a meteor shower is with a group where you have many pairs of eyes on the sky and many reports of 'ooh, look at that' or 'wow, that was great' happening all around you. It is a wonderful communal activity that keeps the momentum strong since meteor showers, when viewed alone, can go for many minutes without producing anything. Teamwork ensures that no meteor is left unseen. So if you have a chance, join a group (or just find a few friends) who will be staying up to see what they can see.

The Perseids this year will be competing with moonlight each night. In San Francisco, the waxing gibbous moon rises at 10:37 pm on Friday 11th, 11:12 pm on Saturday 12th, and 11:49 pm on Sunday 13th. So take in the view while the moon is below the horizon and enjoy a few hours of meteors each evening. Meteor showers tend to get better as the night goes on, so Saturday and Sunday offer better chances of seeing meteors than Friday. Best of luck, enjoy, and have fun!

Perseid Meteor Shower 2016

One of the finest meteor showers of the year, the Perseid Meteor Shower, arrives over a two day viewing window from 11 to 12 August. With a first quarter moon setting near or shortly after midnight, the Moon will provide some distraction during the evenings, but the dedicated meteor seeker will be rewarded with dark skies after midnight when meteor showers naturally reach their peak.

To see the Perseids (or any meteor shower, for that matter), you will be best served by a dark location away from streetlights and ideally away from city lights. If you are in a fully light polluted city and cannot get to a dark rooftop or garden, then your chances of seeing many meteors are poor. However, any step you can take to eliminate light will help, from switching off your own house lights to avoiding streetlights to traveling outside of a city to the beach, desert or mountains. Why? Meteors come in all shapes and sizes and during a meteor shower many of the meteors that sail into Earth's atmosphere produce only a brief, faint trail of heated gas in their wake. Some, of course, are large and visible for longer periods, cover a greater portion of the sky, and are so bright that you cannot miss them. So to improve your odds of seeing more meteors and increase your enjoyment, find a dark spot, bring a lawn chair or blankets so you have a good view of the sky overhead, and relax while the show unfolds. And be prepared to stay up late for the best viewing.

Meteors are also fickle in that they come in groups, sometimes with two or three brights ones in a minute, and then there might be 10 minutes in which you see none and you start to give up hope. But the Perseids will deliver so you just need to be patient.

Universe2go created a great infographic that I have attached to this blogpost. Click to enlarge or download and print. It's a good resource guide for the meteor shower.

Perseid Meteor Shower 2015 - August 11-12-13

August means warm nights and the return of one of the year's best meteor showers, the Perseids. This shower peaks on the night of August 12-13 but takes place over a number of days before and after, so start looking up each night and you'll begin to spot more and more. The best nights are August 11, 12 and 13, even more favorable in 2015 due to the lack of moonlight this year.

A Perseid Meteor

To see a meteor shower you don't need to look in any particular direction but up. Meteors enter the Earth's atmosphere and heat up and become visible to us in every direction of the sky, so your chances of seeing more meteors are enhanced by having a big clear horizon and by lying on your back and letting your eyes rest. Some will streak right into your field of view and be brilliant, but many will be off to one side or another, a shimmer in your peripheral vision. You can't rush the process of viewing a meteor shower, so the more time and patience you invest, the more you will see. My experience is that more heads are better than one, so viewing with a friend or two means you will collectively see a lot more and hey, who doesn't like some company on a dark summer's night?

The other factors that are central to an enhanced experience are to get to a dark-sky location if possible, and regardless of whether you find the perfect dark sky location or simply settling into your backyard or rooftop for a view, you want to minimize the lights in your immediate surroundings. So turn off house lights that illuminate your viewing space, and get into the 'shadow of streetlights' if you are in a city, so your eyes have the best chance of adapting to the dark. If you want to see faint objects whizzing across the sky, you should let your eyes have the 10-15 minutes they need to really adjust themselves to your ambient conditions.

Here are two excellent articles about the 2015 Perseid Meteor Shower.

My favorite: Sky & Telescope. And the always-good resource EarthSky.

Image courtesy of EarthSky.

KFOG Broadcast - August 12, 2014

I paid a visit to the KFOG Morning Show and had a fun chat with Renee about the Supermoon, Perseid Meteor Shower, How to Look At The Night Sky, and Star Parties in and around San Francisco. Click here to listen. 

Perseid Meteor Shower 2014 - what to expect

This year’s Perseid Meteor Shower will peak on August 11-12-13 and should offer up a moderately pleasing view of meteors but will be impacted by the nearly Full Moon. Meteors come in all sizes and shapes and during a reliable shower like the Perseids, you can see them all. However, moonlight increases the ambient lighting of the entire night sky and consequently makes the faint meteors all but invisible. The medium-strength meteors and the fireballs will shine through the glare of course, so the Perseids will have a showing, but just not at the rate we often see during a truly dark sky shower.

Perseid Meteor

I’ve often written that meteor showers are best viewed after midnight, when we are turned toward the path of Earth’s orbit (we are on the “front-face of Earth” after midnight), and we get better meteors. This still holds true, but in a recent article in Sky & Telescope, author Alan MacRobert suggests that early evening is a very good time to look for earth-grazers, meteors that enter the Earth’s atmosphere as a low angle and can be seen for much longer periods of time.  I will certainly be looking for these. I’m not an all-night observer and prefer looking out into the sky waiting for meteors when I am a bit more awake. So the idea of seeing grazers carries appeal for me in more ways than one. Last week on Mt. Tam we witnessed some spectacular meteors, one of which had a trajectory that suggested it was an early Perseid grazer.

For more information on the Perseids, check out these resources.

Sky & Telescope: Perseids vs Moonlight

SpaceWeather.com

EarthSky: Everything You Need to Know - Perseid Meteor Shower

Image courtesy of Stefano De Rosa 

KALW Broadcast - August 8, 2013

I provide a fairly in-depth outline of the Perseids and how to see them during this interview with Ben Trefny of KALW's Crosscurrents program. Click here to listen.

KFOG Broadcast - August 8, 2013

Today's discussion with Greg Gory and the Morning Show team at KFOG includes the Perseids, the International Space Station, Star Parties and Saturn. Listen here. 

Perseid Meteor Shower 2013

It's August, and that means it's time for one of the best meteor showers of the year, the Perseids. This shower occurs every year around August 11-12-13, bringing with it the promise of 50-100 meteors per hour under ideal viewing conditions. There are a lot of great resources on the web to learn about it (see below). For San Francisco and Bay Area residents, here are my thoughts on how to best enjoy it.

In the City: San Francisco and the Bay Area have a bit too much light pollution to see all of the meteors clearly, but you will certainly see some within city limits. The most important things are (a) to have a broad horizon with a view of as much of the sky as possible, and (b) to situate yourself in as dark of a spot as you can find, ideally shaded from streetlights or houselights. Let your eyes adapt and look overhead; you could see 5-10 per hour.

Outside the City: The best way to enjoy a meteor shower is outside of city limits, where darkness prevails and you have a broad view of the sky. As with any stargazing endeavor, you want to dress warmly and bring along creature comforts such as a sleeping bag, lawn chair, and a warm drink. Give yourself plenty of time to dark-adapt. And do this with friends -- it's much more fun when you share this with others.

Where to look: Directly overhead. They appear to originate from a spot in the eastern sky in the constellation Perseus, but they will be visible over all of the night sky.

When to look: meteor showers are always best viewed after midnight, when the rate of meteors goes up considerably. The peak nights for the 2013 Perseids are Sunday night (11th-12th) and Monday night (12th-13th), although Saturday night August 10th will be a fine night as well, as the meteors start to approach their peak and the weekend is in full swing.

In you live in the Bay Area, join the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers high atop Mt. Tamalpais for a full evening of astronomy and meteor watching on Saturday 10th. We'll have a lecture, star gazing through telescopes, and meteor viewing until 1:00 am. Admission is free. More details here: http://www.sfaa-astronomy.org/

Here are two excellent web resources on the Perseids:

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/Get_Ready-for-the-2013_Perseids-218037521.html

http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/earthskys-meteor-shower-guide

Enjoy the show!

A Graceful Moon

A Graceful Moon

This week we enjoy the start of the lunar cycle, from New Moon on the 6th through the waxing crescent phases. The Moon travels higher and more southerly each evening, as it starts its monthly orbit around the Earth, gracefully slipping along the ecliptic and closely brushing up against planets and bright stars. The view on Thursday 9th should be particularly engaging, as bright Venus stands in contrast to the brighter (but more diffuse) thin crescent Moon. You will need a good western horizon to enjoy this, where the pair will shimmer in the dusk sky. Later in the week the Moon will slide past bright star Spica and Saturn, and happily will set well before midnight, so as not to interfere with the Perseids meteor shower. More on the Perseids in my next blog post. For now, Clear Skies and Happy Viewing!

Perseid Meteor Shower 2012

The big meteor shower of the year, the Perseids, peaks this weekend and promises a good show for all who can find dark skies and have the patience to enjoy them. The Moon will generally cooperate with viewers since it will only interfere very late into the night, and even then will only cast a small amount of glare on an otherwise exciting event.

The Perseids are a regular meteor shower that peak over one or two days each August as the Earth plunges into a stream of particles from the comet Swift-Tuttle. As we impact these particles at tens of thousands of miles per hour, we enjoy a spectacle of shooting stars darting across our night sky, sometimes one per minute, sometimes less or even sometimes more. Your ability to see more meteors depends upon three things: (a) dark sky, (b) dark adaptation, and (c) lateness of the night. The darker the sky, the fainter the meteors you will see. The longer you are in your dark environment, the better your eyes will adapt to the dark and enable you to see fainter objects. And finally, later in the night the Earth is intercepting more and more meteors, right up until the first light of dawn.

The shower peaks on Saturday night August 11th and Sunday night August 12th. Your best bet in the San Francisco Bay Area will be locations away from city lights with good views across the entire sky, but in particular with a good eastern horizon.

EarthSky has a helpful article about the Perseids. From EarthSky: "They radiate from a point in the constellation Perseus the Hero. You don’t need to know Perseus to watch the shower because the meteors appear in all parts of the sky. The Perseids are considered by many people to be the year’s best shower, and often peak at 50 or more meteors per hour in a dark sky."

Perseid Meteor Shower 2011

Every Summer, the Perseid Meteor Shower raises the hopes of those interested in the night sky. Being one of the biggest meteor showers of the year, coupled with the fact that it takes place in the middle of Summer, it's not surprising that many look forward to it. However, some of the best viewing of the Perseid Meteor Shower in 2011 will be washed out by the Full Moon which coincides with the peak of the shower on August 12th and 13th.

However, all is not lost. Meteor showers vary in the duration, some lasting only a day or two with a clear peak moment, while others are spread over a longer period of time. Luckily, the Perseids are a longer-duration meteor shower, starting in late July and continuing through mid-August. Although the best viewing is on August 13th, the rate of meteors is already dramatically increasing by August 9th, and at that point in time this year, the Moon will not completely wash away the meteors. In fact, the Moon will be setting in the early morning, giving the dedicated meteor chaser an hour or two to see some fine Perseids before the first light of dawn. So my advice is to look on this schedule:

Early morning Tuesday August 9th: From 1:30 until 5:00 am.

Early morning Wednesday August 10th: From 2:30 until 5:00 am.

Early morning Thursday August 11th: From 3:30 until 5:00 am.

Early morning Friday August 12th: From 4:30 to 5:00 am.

These times are for San Francisco. The start time depends upon when the Moon sets, a bit later each morning. The end time depends upon the time of your local sunrise which may vary based upon your location. Use this website to determine your local conditions. In San Francisco, sunrise is shortly after 6:00 am, so I recommend viewing until 5:00 am at which time the first light of dawn will begin to interfere with viewing of meteors.

As is the case with every meteor shower, you need to get yourself in as dark a location as you can. In a big city, that means away from streetlights and in a spot with a big view of the sky. The meteors will appear to emanate from the East, but they will cross the sky in all directions, so your best view is lying on your back looking up. Get some blankets, stay warm and enjoy.

Image courtesy National Geographic.

Perseid Meteor Shower 2010

The Perseid Meteor Shower reaches its peak this week and the timing is very good for a fine display of meteors. Every year when the Perseids come around, the biggest concern is the Moon. Its beautiful light is a welcome sight to many, but for amateur astronomers and anyone wishing to see more than a few meteors, moonlight can ruin an otherwise-perfect evening of viewing. This year the Moon is very young during the Perseids and sets not long after sunset, leaving a dark sky for the shower.

The Perseids peak on the nights of Thursday 12th and Friday 13th, with best viewing on Thursday night / Friday morning. You can get detailed information on the Sky and Telescope website or on numerous other web resources.

The best way to see the meteor shower is to find a dark location, give your eyes plenty of time to adapt to the darkness, and be prepared to stay up late (or get up early). Meteor showers are almost always best viewed after midnight when the Earth is powering directly into the meteor stream and the rate increases substantially. The Perseids appear to originate in the constellation Perseus which is in the east after midnight, but that does not mean you have to specifically look east to see the meteors. Lying on a blanket facing directly overhead gives you the most expansive view and you can see meteors coming from the east or passing overhead toward the west. Meteors are wonderful, fast, elusive wonders and you simply need to be warmly dressed, in a place where you can see as much of the sky as possible without light distractions, and patience. I wish you clear skies and a great night or two observing.

Perseid Meteor Shower 2009

It's August and that means its time for the annual Perseid Meteor Shower, this year reaching its peak on the evening and through the morning of August 11-12. Meteors are visible just about any night of the year, but throughout the year there are periods of intense activity in the sky ("meteor showers") because the Earth travels through a point in its orbit where there is a higher amount of space dust, rocks and other particles that enter the atmosphere at tens of thousands of miles per hour and burn up, creating bright streaks across the sky.

The Perseid Meteor Shower is going to be harder to see in 2009 because of the bright Moon that rises at 10:40 pm in San Francisco. For the city dweller, however, the shower is not much worse because of the bright Moon, as our city lights obscure many meteors anyhow. So the best you can do is simply enjoy the shower the evening of August 11th from wherever you are in the city. Pick a darkened comfortable spot. Lay back on a blanket and point your feet to toward the north-east and look around the sky. As the evening wears on, the origination point ("radiant") of the meteor shower rises in the north-east. This area is near the constellations Perseus and Cassiopeia as shown in the illustration to the right.

This year there will be a possible jump in the number of meteors as the Earth passes through a denser-than-usual filament of dust from the remnants of comet Swift-Tuttle. That will happen around 1:00 am pacific time on the 12th, so if you are up late you might just see a more intense period of meteor activity. Throughout the entire evening, the Moon will remain the one bright light everyone cannot escape, so when it rises just point your gaze in another direction and keep your eyes on the sky. And stay warm!

If you want to see a good meteor shower this year that won't have moonlight in the way, look ahead to December 14th when the Geminids will peak at an even higher rate than the Perseids. However it will be considerably cooler and the weather is less predictable at that time.