One of the 12 months’s most dazzling sky reveals is about to peak because the annual Perseid meteor bathe lights up the night time — and you’ll benefit from the occasion dwell on-line.
The Perseid meteor bathe is predicted to succeed in peak exercise on Tuesday night (Aug. 12) via the early morning hours of Wednesday (Aug. 13). The Virtual Telescope Project will host a free livestream on Tuesday starting at 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT), providing skywatchers real-time views of dozens of taking pictures stars each hour.
Dark skies in central Italy allow the Virtual Telescope Project to capture wide-field views of the meteor shower using its robotic telescopes. The livestream event will also feature commentary from astrophysicist Gianluca Masi. The stream will be available via the project’s WebTV page, YouTube channel and right here on Space.com, courtesy of the Virtual Telescope Project.
The Perseids are identified for producing constant meteors and occasional fireballs — “shooting stars” that blaze extra brightly than Venus within the sky — as Earth passes via particles left by Comet Swift-Tuttle. The Perseids peak as Earth passes via the densest and dustiest space of the comet’s path.
The Perseid meteor bathe is lively yearly from mid-July to late August. Under clear skies and low gentle air pollution, this 12 months’s bathe may ship between 50 and 100 meteors per hour at its peak. However, a waning gibbous moon will rise earlier than midnight, doubtlessly washing out a few of the fainter meteors with its brilliant gentle.
Still, the brightest Perseids ought to shine via, particularly through the predawn hours when the constellation Perseus — from which the meteors seem to radiate, therefore the bathe’s identify — climbs excessive within the northeastern sky.
The greatest time to view the meteor bathe shall be between 3 and 4 a.m. native time. Observers watching in particular person are inspired to discover a darkish spot and permit time for his or her eyes to regulate. The meteor bathe is seen to the bare eye, so no telescopes or binoculars are wanted.
Whether you are outdoors underneath the celebs or viewing the Virtual Telescope Project’s dwell webcast, the Perseids stay some of the exceptional meteor showers of the 12 months.