Seeing some shooting stars with the Perseid meteor shower, the most stunning night sky event of the summer.
Caused by Earth passing through trails of debris left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle, the shower has become famous over the centuries because of its consistent display of celestial fireworks.
This year, the Perseid maximum will occur on the night of Aug. 11 and pre-dawn hours of Aug. 12. You’ll start seeing meteors from the shower around 11 p.m. local time and the rates will increase until dawn.
If you miss the night of the 11th, you will also be able to see quite a few on the night of the 12th between those times.
August sees the return to the northern hemisphere of properly dark night skies. With it getting darker earlier, stargazing gets easier. It’s great cosmic timing because along with convenience comes a conjunction of Mars and Jupiter, the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower and much more.
Around the peak mornings, if you trace all the Perseid meteors backward, they seem to come from the constellation Perseus near the famous Double Cluster. Hence, the meteor shower is named in honor of the constellation Perseus the Hero.
Here’s everything you need to know about stargazing, moon-watching and the night sky in August 2024:
