Comet Swift-Tuttle Debris and Optimal Viewing Conditions
The Perseid meteor shower happens every summer for about a month. In 2024, the Perseids will run from mid-July to the end of August, and are expected to reach their peak on the night of August 11 through the morning of August 12. A meteor shower is something that happens when innumerable tiny remnants of comets and asteroids slam into the Earth’s atmosphere. The speeding lumps of dust and ice and rock are no match for the dense bubble of air that surrounds our planet (which we call the atmosphere), and as they hurtle towards the ground that they will never reach, they burn up in a glorious blaze that streaks through the heavens. The Perseids are caused by Earth passing through debris — bits of ice and rock — left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle which last passed close to Earth in 1992. The Perseids peak when Earth passes through the densest and dustiest area on Aug. 11-12. According to NASA, this year’s show will be slightly impacted by a 53% waxing Moon.
But the good news is that the moon will set before the peak of the celestial show gets underway. According to EarthSky, the moon will be a 1st quarter and 50% illuminated. Perseids rise to a peak gradually and then fall pretty quickly. They also tend to strengthen in numbers as the night turns into the early hours of the morning. This meteor shower is also often best seen before dawn and these meteors are often colorful. With a dark sky with no moon, up to 90 meteors per hour are possibly visible. This year, the light from the waning crescent moon will not interfere with Perseids. With the moon only 10% illuminated during the time of the peak — the night of Aug.12 and before dawn on Aug. 13 — viewing conditions for the Perseids were much better than last year which unfortunately saw meteors outshined by the full moon. Years without moonlight see higher rates of meteors per hour, and in outburst years (such as in 2016) the rate can be between 150-200 meteors an hour! Don’t worry if you didn’t catch any during the peak, the Perseid meteor shower remains active until around Aug. 24, though fewer meteors per hour will be visible compared to the shower’s peak.
Global Astrophotography and Stargazer Reactions
Amateur astronomer Fotis Mavroudakis captured this beautiful photograph below on Aug. 13, in the mountains of Drama, a city in northern Greece. The Nestos River flows in the foreground.
“I dedicated several hours to capturing the celestial spectacle. The clear night conditions allowed me to create an image that not only highlights the meteor’s brilliance but also showcases the grandeur of the cosmos. The meteor’s vibrant trail and the tranquil expanse of the night sky combine to create a sense of wonder and fascination.”
In the image below a Perseid meteor streaks across the sky along the Sphinx Door at the Ancient City of Hattusa, in the Bogazkale district of Corum, Turkey on Aug. 13, 2023. A Perseid meteor lights up the sky on Aug.13, 2023 in Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province of China. Here, a Perseid meteor streaks across the sky in Leon, Spain. The Sarpincik Lighthouse wasn’t the only spectacle lighting up the skies in the Karaburun district of Izmir, Turkey on Aug.13.
Phil Kirschner managed to capture an impressive Perseid meteor streaking across the sky just below Jupiter.
Peak Timing and Active Meteor Windows
Though the annual shower’s predicted peak was last night, meteor activity should continue tonight (August 13/14), best enjoyed by just looking up in clear, dark skies after midnight. Of course, this year’s Perseid shower has the advantage of being active near the August 14 New Moon. Since the nearly New Moon doesn’t rise before the morning twilight many fainter meteors are easier to spot until then, with no interference from bright moonlight. The Perseid meteor shower last occurred near a New Moon in 2013. That’s when the exposures used to construct this image were made, under dark, moonless skies from Hvar Island off the coast of Croatia. The widefield composite includes 67 meteors streaming from the heroic constellation Perseus, the shower’s radiant, captured during 2013 August 8-14 against a background of faint zodiacal light and the Milky Way. The next moonless Perseid meteor shower will be in August 2018.
