The Perseid meteor shower will peak this weekend, giving stargazers in Northeast Ohio the best view of the yearly event. The Perseids are commonly known as the best meteor shower of the year due to the sheer number of meteors you can see every hour and the fact the peak always falls during the summer months! On average, onlookers can see up to 100 meteors per hour.
If you're not familiar with the Perseids, they are meteors that, according to NASA, leave "long 'wakes' of light and color behind them as they streak through the earth's atmosphere." If you're lucky, you'll catch a rarer glimpse of a fireball, which is a large explosion of bright light and color that lasts longer than a regular meteor streak.
When and where to look:
Anyone in the Northern Hemisphere will have a good view this year because the moon is nearly a new moon and is only illuminated by 7%, which will not cause much light interference during the peak.
The best time to look for the meteor shower will be between 10 p.m. on Aug. 12 and the pre-dawn hours of Aug. 13. It will be most active in the hour before dawn on Sunday. The radiant is the area where meteors appear to originate. That point in the sky is toward the northeast. The best time to view them is between midnight and dawn, as the radiant rises higher in the sky. Meteor activity likely will be at its greatest in the hour preceding dawn.
Otherwise, you will want to get away from city lights that can cause light pollution. So all you have to do is find yourself a safe, dark spot to lie down with your feet pointing roughly toward the northeast and look straight up. You don’t need any equipment to see them, but you will need to give your eyes around half an hour to adjust to the dark. Avoid looking at your cell phone since that can ruin your night vision.
Why do we see this meteor shower every year?
Every year the Earth's orbit around the sun makes our planet pass through debris left behind by comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle — a comet that orbits the sun every 133 years, with its last Earth approach happening back in 1992. It's named after Lewis Swift and Horace Tuttle, who both independently discovered it in 1862. Three years later, Giovanni Schiaparelli discovered it was that comet which created the Perseids — aptly named as the point in the sky the meteors come from is near the constellation Perseus.
Conditions for viewing:
The weather has been very active over the last few weeks, with on-and-off storms every couple of storms. This weekend is no different. In fact, expect to see scattered storms on Saturday, some of which could become strong or severe. The good news is that as of Thursday evening, it looks like it will be partly cloudy for many on Saturday night and into Sunday morning. News 5 will continue to monitor conditions and update this article as needed throughout the next few days—so be sure to check back for the latest. You can also get the latest forecast on News 5!
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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