It’s one of the best meteor showers of the year — the Perseids! Peaking on Wednesday night (Aug. 12-13), this year in particular offers one of the best opportunities to see the bright meteor streaks in action. In the right location, an observer could see 50-100 meteors per hour.

The timing of the shower this year is just right, coinciding with a New Moon at 0% illumination. This will keep skies dark, allowing for even fainter meteors to be visible. This is a stark contrast to last year, when the bright Moon washed away most meteor streaks.

However, city lights also reduce meteor visibility. A typical suburban area should expect fewer meteors per hour. In urban hot spots with tons of light pollution like Baton Rouge or New Orleans, that number drops even more.

Nevertheless, without moonlight polluting the view, a fair number of Perseid meteors may overcome city light pollution. For the best viewing:

• Find a rural area, away from city lights.
• View several hours after sunset. The best window is between midnight and dawn.
• Avoid looking at a phone. Let the eyes adjust to the darkness.
• Be patient! It may take a few minutes, or longer, to see a meteor.

Meteor showers happen when Earth passes through a trail of dust and debris left behind by a comet or asteroid. Specifically in late summer, Earth passes through the Perseid cloud, a stream of debris left behind by the comet Swift-Tuttle. Such debris slices through Earth’s atmosphere at 37 miles per second, burning up as it does so. This produces a streak of light seen on the ground as a meteor. 

The Perseid meteor shower is an annual occurrence, lasting from mid-July to late-August. The peak typically occurs in the second week of August — that's when the dazzling display occurs. Outside of the peak window, visible meteors are few and far between. The shower gets its name because it appears in the general direction of the constellation Perseus.

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