GoKawiilThere are all kinds of cool things to see in the sky during summer, including the Summer Triangle, full moons, constellations and the occasional planet parade. The crown jewel of summertime stargazing is arguably the Perseids, one of the biggest meteor showers of the year, and it's coming soon.
The Perseids shower begins on July 17 and continue until Aug. 24. During that time, you can expect to see the occasional shooting star if you look up long enough. The meteor shower is expected to peak on the evenings of Aug. 12-13, and that's when the real fun happens. According to NASA, this meteor shower can generate upwards of 50 to 100 meteors per hour in ideal viewing conditions, which is more than any other meteor shower during this part of the year by a country mile.
That high meteor count and the fact that the Perseids take place during the warmth of summer, when it's easy to hang out outdoors, are what make this a great viewing opportunity.
The Perseid meteors come to Earth thanks to the 109P/Swift-Tuttle comet, a rather large one at 16 miles across. NASA says that's twice the size of the asteroid that is theorized to have killed the dinosaurs. The comet leaves behind a healthy trail of debris in its wake. The Earth moves through that debris trail every year, and the debris flying through Earth's atmosphere is the Perseids meteor shower.
Perseids will have some of the best meteors
One of the hallmarks of the Perseids is that its meteors tend to be bright with long trails. According to Doug Welch, professor emeritus of physics and astronomy at McMaster University, most meteor showers have unique meteors based on a variety of factors. That includes how much material, what kind of material and the angle relative to Earth's movement through space.
"It is true that different meteor showers spawn different 'characteristic' meteors," Welch told CNET in an email. "This largely has to do with how long the spawning object (Comet Swift-Tuttle in this case) has been resident in the inner solar system and what the relative velocity of the material along the comet's orbit and the Earth's motion is."
Welch says there's a maximum speed at which comet material can hit Earth, and the Perseids shower is on the higher end of the spectrum.
The Perseids has all the right materials for bright, long-tailed meteors, although Welch notes that the light we see here on Earth is actually superheated air as the meteor flies through the atmosphere and not actually the meteor itself.
The new moon hits on Aug. 12-13, which means there is no lunar light pollution to deal with. Brad Sutton/National Park Service
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