Perseid meteor shower 2023 guide: All you need to know

A full Moon last year drowned out the peak of the Perseids, but this year the annual meteor shower will be brighter and more exciting. That is, if the clouds hold for the weekend. It’s one of the most active showers of the year, and with a nice long period of activity there’s even a chance we might spot a fireball.

If the Perseids have whetted your appetite for meteor-spotting, there’s a string of showers just around the corner, starting with the Orionids in October. Find out all the details in our meteor shower calendar.

When is the Perseid meteor shower in 2023?

The Perseid meteor shower in 2023 started on 17 July and will remain visible until 24 August.

“It shows activity from mid-July through to the last week in August,” says veteran astronomer and The Sky at Night presenter, Pete Lawrence.

The shower peaks this weekend on the Saturday and Sunday (12/13 August), and there should be a decent helping of meteors continuing until the early hours of 14 August. The number of meteors visible will drop off after that, although we may still catch a glimpse of a few as we approach the tail end of the dust field.

When is the best date to see the Perseids?

Clouds permitting, tomorrow night (the night of the 12/13 August 2023) and the night after (13/14 August 2023) will yield the most meteors.

“Much of this time [between 17 July and 24 August] the meteor rate is low, but between 10-16 August, rates are notably higher. The number of meteors seen per hour through this period, reaching a sharp peak in the early hours of 13 August,” Lawrence explains.

“An all-night watch on 12/13 and 13/14 August should give excellent rewards.”

At its peak, we may reach as high as 100 meteors per hour, although it’s always best to take these estimates with a pinch of salt. Grab a recliner, some snacks and a clicker, and make a night of it!

Where to look

As the name suggests, the radiant for the Perseids lies in the northern part of the constellation Perseus, next to Andromeda. As the Perseids are fast, they may leave persistent trains in the sky, and with any luck we may even be treated to a fireball.

The constellation Perseus is in the north-eastern sky and sits nestled between the distinctive ‘W’ of the constellation Cassiopeia above, and everyone favourite, the Pleiades, just below.

The brightest star in Perseus is Mirfak, a yellow supergiant star in the middle of the constellation. The variable blue-white star Algol forms a line with Mirfak, which help to identify where the centre is.

The radiant will move higher as morning approaches. For best views, try to take in as much of the sky as possible in your line of vision

If you're struggling to find this point in the night sky, using an app may help (check our best astronomy apps)

Although the radiant is where the shooting stars appear to originate, they will be visible over the whole sky. So, look up – and try to take in as much of the sky in your vision as possible.

How to maximise your chances of spotting a Perseid

This year conditions are favourable, but why is early morning the best time for meteor spotting? Pete explains:

“Several factors affect the quality of a display. Sky clarity is one, and this is on light pollution, weather, and the Moon. The Moon won’t interfere much this year, so if the weather looks good it’s worth planning a trip somewhere dark if you have light-polluted skies,” Lawrence says.

“Another factor is radiant altitude. A meteor shower occurs when Earth passes through the fine dust spread around a comet’s orbit, in this case 109P/Swift-Tuttle.

"The typically sand-grain-sized particles (meteoroids) are in parallel orbits around the Sun. As they enter our atmosphere, perspective makes it look as if they emerge from the same area of sky; the shower radiant.”

“If the radiant is low, the number of meteors seen will also be low. The Perseid radiant climbs to its highest altitude, approaching your zenith, as dawn begins around 3:20am BST from the centre of the UK.”

And thanks to the Earth’s rotation, we start to look forward at the meteors as we enter into the early hours of the morning, which essentially means we get a better view:

“After local midnight, the Earth turns to encounter meteoroids head-on. This increases the impact energy with more and brighter trails being seen. Local midnight occurs at 1am BST (midnight GMT),” Lawrence says.

Is there anything else I can see?

On the night of the 12/13 and 13/14 August, a bright Saturn (magnitude 0.49) will start to peep over the horizon just after sunset, while Jupiter will follow shortly after. Jupiter will be sitting pretty with a bright magnitude of -2.33, so it will be easy to spot if you look towards the East.

What causes the Perseid meteor shower?

The Perseid meteor shower occurs – like most meteor showers – when Earth's orbit passes through the trail of dust left by a comet, in this case Comet Swift-Tuttle (109P/Swift/Tuttle). When the shower reaches its peak, that’s when we’re passing through the densest part of the dust stream.

Without the interfering light from the full Moon, this can mean we see hundreds of bright trails in the sky. They appear to radiate from the direction of the constellation Perseus; the ‘radiant’.

Comet Swift-Tuttle is a snowball comet made of dust, ice and rock. It’s a large comet, more than twice the size of the asteroid that brought around the end of the dinosaurs and has a nucleus 26km (16 miles) in diameter.

It takes 133 years to orbit the Sun, which classifies it as a short-period comet (anything with an orbit under 200 years is a ‘short-period’ comet). Its official designation is 109P/Swift-Tuttle.

The 'P' in the name indicates that it is a periodic comet, one which has been observed more than once returning to the perihelion, the point in its orbit closest to the Sun.

Comet Swift-Tuttle was last visible to us in 1992 but won't pass our way again until 2125.

Viewing tips

You don't need binoculars or a telescope to watch a meteor shower. To maximise your chances of spotting meteors – and get as wide a field of view as possible – your eyes are the perfect instrument. Shooting stars will streak across the sky, and although we know where the radiant is, we can’t predict precisely where they will appear.

Binoculars and telescopes have a much narrower field of view, so it’s more likely you’ll miss all the goodies if you opt for gadgetry.

“To enjoy this wonderful shower, find a dark location away from stray lights. Give yourself at least 20 minutes in darkness to dark adapt and make yourself comfortable, say using a recliner”, says Lawrence.

“Look up at a height roughly two-thirds up the sky (an altitude of 60 degrees) in any direction and wait. If you can’t decide on a direction, south and southeast have some interesting constellations to look at during meteor lull periods.”