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Perseid meteor shower peaks tonight: Tips on how to see it

By Deborah Netburn contact the reporter
Space ExplorationPerseid Meteor ShowerNASASupermoon

The Perseid meteor shower peaks tonight and you don't want to miss it.

The Perseid meteor shower is usually one of the most prolific meteor
showers of the year, with an estimated peak of 30 to 40 meteors zooming
across the sky per hour.

This year, however, observers should expect a slightly less spectacular
show, as the lingering effects of Sunday evening's super bright,
supermoon will drown out some of the fainter meteors.

"What the moon is doing is lighting up the whole sky, it's like nature's
own light pollution," said Alan MacRobert, of Sky and Telescope
magazine. "It will reduce the number of faint meteors you can see, but
you can still see the bright ones."

He added that committed meteor watchers could still see an average of
one meteor every five minutes tonight, so it's certainly worth trying!

The Perseid meteor shower occurs each year as the Earth passes through a
stream of ancient bits of dust and ice left in the wake of comet
Swift-Tuttle. As the Earth goes barreling through the stream, small
pieces of comet detritus slam into our planet and burn up in our
atmosphere, causing what looks like shooting stars to streak across the sky.

Swift-Tuttle is in a 133-year orbit around the sun, and the people of
Earth have been enjoying this late summer light show for at least 2,000
years. According to NASA, the shooting stars we can expect to see
tonight could be caused by dust that has been hanging out in space for
as long as 1,000 years.

The best time to see the show is after 11 p.m. time, when the
constellation Perseus is high in the sky. If you are willing to wait
until 3 a.m. that's even better, but not essential.

Grab a blanket or a reclining lawn chair and get yourself to a big, wide
open view of the sky. You'll want to face away from the moon, because
its bright glare will mess up your night vision. Also, try to stop
yourself from looking at your cell phone. You want to let your eyes get
used to the dark with no bright light interruptions. Then, lay back and
relax and with a little luck, you should enjoy a beautiful natural light
show.

For those of you who prefer to do their sky gazing on the computer (or
if you just can't get outside at the shower's peak), NASA will live
stream a view of the meteor shower from the Marshall Space Flight Center
in Huntsville, Ala. The agency is also hosting a live chat with a team
of meteor experts.

Happy sky watching!