Perseids Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight, On August 12 2014

The highly prolific Perseids meteor shower will be reaching its for peak for the year tonight, on August 12 2014 (early morning hours of August 13 2014).

Peak activity is expected to be somewhere around 100 meteors an hour when seen from a dark rural location — so when you factor in the very bright Supermoon currently gracing the skies, a good guess would probably be around 30 meteors an hour.

Perseids

Most of the Perseid meteors will appear to be originating out of the constellation of Perseus in the northeastern portion of the late night’s sky — which will continue rising into the sky until the early morning hours. The best time to watch for meteors will likely be sometime in the early morning hours, between 2-4 am.


A couple of things to note:

– The Northern Hemisphere will get a rather better show than the Southern Hemisphere — but not by too much, both hemispheres are good to watch from. So wherever you are make sure that you make the time and give the meteor shower a shot.

– Try to get comfortable. A good comfortable reclining chair, warm clothes or blankets, coffee, etc, all make the experience more enjoyable.

– Get as far from the city, and city lights, as you can — bright city lights greatly limit the number of meteors that you will see. Find the darkest sky that you can.

– You’ll need to give your eyes time to adjust to the dark in order to see many of the meteors that will grace the night’s sky. So turn off or dim your electronic devices, and give yourself a break.

Enjoy the night. 🙂

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