There have already been a couple of night’s worth of meteor showers lighting up the sky this week, but apparently the best is yet to come. In the early morning hours of Monday and Tuesday Perseid meteors are promising a shower that will awe. (The rest of the month is supposed to see continued meteor showers, just not of the same magnitude of these two peak nights.)
According to experts, the best hours to catch a good show are after midnight and just before daybreak. Also, a view of the northeast sky is essential to seeing the most meteors.
The yearly meteor shower is caused by the Earth’s orbit crossing paths with that of the Comet Swift-Tuttle. This comet is the home to the Perseid meteor shower. In past years, there have been sightings of more than one hundred meteors per hour. However, the showers average around 70 meteors per hour on peak nights.
The Perseid meteor shower gets its name from the famous Greek constellation, Perseus. These meteors streak through the atmosphere at a whopping 134,000 miles per hour.
Perseid meteor showers look in photographs like snow or rain falling heavily; however, that is just how many brightly-lit meteors are falling every second! It is a wonder to uphold, and definitely something everyone needs to see at least once – even if you do have that 8:00 Monday morning meeting; plan on an extra cup of java at Starbucks and you’ll be glad you stayed up.