Perseid Meteor Shower to Peak Tonight

Photo credit: Jared Tennant via Wiki Commons

By Bay City News Service

This week will be one of the best times to watch the Perseid meteor shower, chair of Foothill College’s astronomy department said.

This week the meteor shower will take place during a new moon, which is when the moon is absent from the sky, astronomy department chair Andrew Fraknoi said.

Because of the moon’s absence, the moonlight won’t interfere with viewing the “shooting stars,” he said.

The evening of Aug. 12 through the morning of Aug. 13 will be the optimal time to see the shower, though stargazers may see more shooting stars the night before or the night after, according to Fraknoi.

Fraknoi said about 1 a.m. Aug. 13 will be the prime time to see the shower, but anytime after sunset Aug. 12 will be a good time to see some shooting stars.

Though a meteor shower has nothing to do with stars, as meteors are pieces of cosmic dust and dirt that enters the Earth’s atmosphere at high speed and make a flash of light, Fraknoi said.