Editor’s be aware: WOW, regardless of the glare of the just about full moon, the Perseids nonetheless placed on a spectacular show worldwide. Check out our roundup of the greatest pictures of the Perseids 2025.
One of the 12 months’s most dazzling sky reveals is about to peak because the annual Perseid meteor bathe lights up the evening — and you’ll benefit from the occasion reside on-line.
The Perseid meteor shower is expected to reach peak activity on Tuesday evening (Aug. 12) through 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 capturing stars each hour.
Dark skies in central Italy permit the Virtual Telescope Project to seize wide-field views of the meteor bathe utilizing its robotic telescopes. The livestream occasion will even characteristic commentary from astrophysicist Gianluca Masi. The stream will probably be obtainable through the challenge’s WebTV page, YouTube channel and right here on Space.com, courtesy of the Virtual Telescope Project.
The Perseids are recognized 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 energetic 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 number of the fainter meteors with its shiny 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 will probably 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 exterior beneath the celebs or viewing the Virtual Telescope Project’s reside webcast, the Perseids stay probably the most outstanding meteor showers of the 12 months.