The Perseids, one of 2024's most stunning meteor showers, is now in full swing – you may have already been lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the fast, bright shooting stars as they skim across the night sky.
And it’s only going to get better. As we approach the middle of August, things are hotting up. During the shower's peak, you can expect to see – conditions permitting – as many as 100 meteors per hour. Some of them may also be fireballs.
Unlike other meteor showers this year, Moonlight is unlikely to drown out the spectacle. True, a waxing Moon will be in the sky as we approach the peak, but fortunate timing means it will have sunk below the horizon when meteor activity starts to pick up.
For a roundup of all the year’s meteor showers, take a look at our meteor shower calendar. If you’d like to get into astrophotography but don’t know where to start, expert Pete Lawrence has put together a beginner’s guide on how to take great pictures of the Moon.
undefinedWhen is the Perseid meteor shower 2024?
The Perseid meteor shower began on 17 July 2024 and will continue until around 24 August. The best time to see meteors is between midnight and sunset.
The meteor shower peaks on 12 August. It’s around this time that we can expect to see more meteors. As the peak falls during the day, the best time to watch the Perseids will be on either side of the peak, on the nights of 11/12 August and 12/13 August.
A watch between midnight and before the sky begins to lighten (around 5:30am in the UK, 6am in New York and Los Angeles), will yield the best results.
How many meteors can we see?
The Perseids is one of the most active meteor showers of the year, but that doesn’t mean we can expect to see a constant stream of meteors. Most of the photographs you see (like the below) are long-exposure pictures, which capture dozens, sometimes hundreds, of meteors in one shot.
Theoretically, under dark skies and perfect conditions, we’d be looking at around 100 meteors per hour. Realistically, however, we can expect to see far fewer than this, perhaps a few dozen per hour. That being said, the Perseids is still one of the best showers of the year.
Where to look in the sky
The absolute best direction to look to see the Perseids, is straight up. You want to take in as much of the sky as you can in your vision. This is because meteors can streak across the whole sky; they’re not confined to one location.
But it’s nice to know where the radiant is. If anything, it helps to distinguish Perseids from the sporadic meteors (more on that below) which can also be seen. (The radiant for a meteor shower where meteors appear to originate from.)
For the Perseids, the radiant is in the constellation of Perseus, hence the name ‘Perseid'.
In the small hours of the morning, look towards the northeast to see Perseus lingering just above the bright planet Jupiter. Taurus the Bull is situated just to the right of Jupiter, and you might also be able to spot Mars very close to Jupiter*.
The Sun rises in the east so, face this direction and turn slightly towards the left to find northeast. But don’t worry if you can’t orient yourself, as the meteors can appear across the whole sky.
Perseus is situated between the distinctive ‘W’ of the constellation Cassiopeia, and the Pleiades. If you're struggling with finding the radiant, an astronomy app can help (check our best astronomy apps).
* The closest Mars-Jupiter conjunction will happen on 14 August 2024. It's the closest the two planets will be until 2033 and will make for a brilliant sight, should the Perseids prove elusive.
What causes the Perseid meteor shower?
Meteor showers are created when a parent body (a comet or sometimes an asteroid) leaves a trail of debris behind as it orbits the Sun. When Earth subsequently intersects that debris stream, the particles interact with our atmosphere. This produces the lingering streaks of light we see as shooting stars.
Established meteor showers – such as the Perseids – are predictable. They generally occur at the same time every year, and the peak occurs when Earth’s orbit intersects with the densest part of this stream:
“As Earth passes through the debris stream, particle density increases to a maximum and then falls off again, typically over several weeks – but it can be over days. The shower meteors reach peak rate during the maximum density period,” astronomer and BBC Sky at Night presenter Pete Lawrence explains.
For the Perseids, this parent body is the Comet Swift-Tuttle, a large snowball-type comet made of dust, ice and rock. The nucleus is 26km in diameter (around 16 miles) and takes 133 years to complete one orbit of the Sun.
As this is less than the 200-year cut-off point, that makes it a short-period comet. This is indicated by the ‘P’ in its official designation 109P/Swift-Tuttle.
The comet was last in our neighbourhood in 1992 and will make its return in 2125 or 2126. Unfortunately, it was too faint to see with the naked eye in 1992, but should put on more of a display when it returns a little over 100 years from now.
Will the Moon interfere?
This year we have a potentially interfering half-Moon during the two nights on either side of peak on 11/12 August. As we approach the full Moon on 19 August, illumination is gradually increasing.
So, if you opt for an evening viewing session, you’ll have moonlight to contend with. The Moon is at 51 per cent illumination on 12 August, and 61 per cent illumination on 13 August.
But the good news is that by the time Perseid activity starts to ramp up after midnight (on both nights), the Moon will have set. So, it won’t cause a problem if you opt for a morning viewing session.
It’s best to view the Perseids in the small hours before sunrise, between midnight and 5:30am in the UK and 6am in the US. Not only will the Moon be below the horizon, but the meteor rates will be higher – so you’ll have a better chance of spotting more meteors.
Top tips to maximise your chances of spotting some meteors
You don’t need a telescope, or even binoculars to watch the Perseid meteor shower. It’s actually better to just use your eyes as you’ll be able to take in more of the sky than if you were looking through an eyepiece.
“A dark sky with no Moon gives the best view. Allow at least 20 minutes in complete darkness to become fully dark adapted,” says Lawrence. “A sun-lounger makes a great observing platform for meteors.”
“Aim to watch the skies in blocks at least 30 minutes long, longer if you can. The rest is down to luck, but spotting a bright summer meteor streaking across the sky is something that will really stay with you for a long time,” he adds.
Here are some of our top tips to get the most out of your meteor-watch session:
- Avoid bright lights. Try to avoid areas with artificial bright lights, and keep streetlights out of your direct line of sight.
- Let your eyes adjust. Sit outside for around 20 minutes so that your eyes adapt to the darkness.
- Use a red-light filter if you need to look at your phone. This can be a physical piece of red transparent film or an app. This helps to preserve your accumulated night vision from when your eyes adjust.
- Get your timings right: The best time to watch the Perseid meteor shower is early morning. There is heightened activity at this time and the Moon has slipped below the horizon.
- Block out the Moon. If you can't get up early, you may still be able to catch a few meteors in the evening. As the Moon will be around 50 to 60 per cent illuminated when the shower peaks on 11/12 and 12/13 August, try to find a spot where the Moon is obscured. Use your surroundings to your advantage – look for a location where buildings or foliage block out the Moon's interfering light.
- Get a wide field of view. Try to take in as wide a field of vision as possible. By ensuring as much of the sky as possible is visible means you can also take advantage of your peripheral vision.
- Watch out for fireballs. Within the cometary debris that causes the Perseid meteor shower, are larger particles. These create bright explosions of light that persist for longer than your average meteor.
How do I know whether it’s a Perseid meteor?
There are other meteors you can spot at the moment – and these are sporadic meteors.
Often shortened to just ‘sporadics’, they appear to streak from any point in the sky and are not associated with any particular shower. (Although occasionally they can be from an undiscovered shower.)
As Lawrence explains: “Meteors come in two basic varieties: sporadic or random meteors, and shower meteors. Sporadic meteors occur when a small piece of rock, typically no larger than a grain of sand, happens to encounter Earth’s atmosphere, vaporises and produces the bright streak of light called a meteor trail. These can happen at any time, anywhere in the sky and from any direction.”
There’s a nifty way to tell sporadics apart from the Perseids, and it’s all down to where they appear to come from in the sky. Meteors from showers will generally appear to come from the associated radiant for that shower. Whereas sporadics are more random and can shoot across the sky from any direction, at any time.
“Shower meteors are different [to sporadics] and result from a stream of typically sand grain-sized particles in solar orbit encountering the Earth’s atmosphere. The particles are associated with comets or in some cases asteroids, which over time release debris which spreads around their orbits,” Lawrence explains.
“Travelling in parallel orbits around the Sun, when they enter our atmosphere perspective makes them look as if they are coming from the same area of sky, known as the shower radiant.”
So, by knowing where the radiant is for a particular shower, for example, the constellation Perseus for the Perseid meteor shower, you can take an educated guess as to whether the meteors you’re seeing are shower meteors or sporadics.
About our expert
Pete Lawrence is an experienced astronomer, astrophotographer, and a presenter on BBC's The Sky at Night. Catch him on BBC Four or catch up on demand with BBC iPlayer.
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