By Brooke Edwards
At 4:30 a.m., Aug. 12, I was treated to a meteor flying across the sky. With smoke from western wildfires a problem for weeks, and previously cloudy days, I had forgotten all about the Perseids, the best summer meteor shower. Seeing this unexpected cosmic show before I left for work made my day. It reminded me to slow down and enjoy the universe.
The Perseid meteor shower occurs every year in mid-August as Earth passes through the path of the comet Swift-Tuttle. The comet orbits between the Sun and Pluto. Not to be confused with an asteroid, which is made of rock, a comet is made of dust and ice. Fragments from the comet are called meteoroids. When a meteoroid travels to our neck of the solar system and enters Earth’s atmosphere, it creates a spectacular shooting “star” known as a meteor. Most meteors burn up in the atmosphere and never land on Earth.
The Perseids’ event got its name from meteors originating around the Perseus constellation, which appears in the northeast in the early morning hours. Perseus sits above and to the left of the constellation Taurus, the bull of stars that hosts the Pleiades star cluster. It is also below the constellation Cassiopeia, which appears as an unmistakable left-facing sideways “W” of stars.
Your chance of seeing meteors is never truly as great as predicted and depends on many factors. For example, it may be predicted that observers could see up to 70 meteors per hour, yet one should expect to see far fewer. This high number is an estimate by astronomers of what to expect during the peak of the Perseids. Your view of the show depends upon your location and situation. Factors such as light pollution, moonlight, cloud cover, and even smoke can reduce visibility. Living in a bigger city, such as Traverse City or Grand Rapids, you would not expect to see as many meteors. It was not until I moved to Manistee and had access to dark skies that I first saw a meteor with my own eyes!
The show slows down considerably but lasts through the end of the month. Look for satellites and the International Space Station while you’re at it. The Milky Way is still visible, too.
Read more by NASA Solar System Ambassador Brooke Edwards HERE.
