Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks on the Night of a Solar Eclipse
With a new moon keeping skies dark, the Perseids could deliver up to 100 shooting stars an hour overnight Wednesday into Thursday.
The Perseid meteor shower, one of the brightest and most popular of the year, peaks overnight from Wednesday into Thursday under unusually dark skies, thanks to a new moon.
Because the moon's illuminated side currently faces the sun, with its night side turned toward Earth, moonlight will not wash out the display. Under ideal conditions — clear weather and dark skies — the Perseids can produce as many as 100 shooting stars per hour.
The peak coincides with the season's other marquee sky event: a total solar eclipse visible Wednesday from Spain, a small part of Portugal, Greenland, Iceland and northern Russia. A total eclipse occurs when the sun, moon and Earth align and the moon passes in front of the sun, fully blocking its light.
In places where the eclipse falls near sunset, viewers may glimpse Perseid meteors during totality — the minutes when the moon completely covers the sun, leaving a fiery ring and temporarily darkening the sky.
The shower has been underway since mid-July and typically runs into late August. Shooting stars should remain visible over the next two weeks, though at lower rates than at the peak.
The Perseids occur as Earth passes through a cloud of dust and debris left behind by comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, discovered in 1862. The streaks of light are created as that debris strikes the atmosphere. The shower is known for fireballs, extra-bright meteors that leave glowing trails as they disintegrate.
For viewers in the Northern Hemisphere, the best time to watch is in the early hours before dawn. Skywatchers should find an unobstructed spot under the darkest skies available, away from city lights and other light pollution. NASA recommends letting your eyes adjust to the darkness for 20 to 30 minutes, then sitting back, looking up and waiting patiently.
Across most of the Southern Hemisphere, the shower's radiant — the point in the sky from which the meteors appear to originate — will not rise above the horizon, making the Perseids hard to see.
NASA plans a virtual watch party on YouTube starting at midnight ET Thursday, streaming live views from sky cameras at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
This article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI), in accordance with our editorial policy.
