Image: 2010 Perseids / Fred Bruenjes via NASA.
It will be a spectacular light show tonight with as many as 100 meteors streaking across the sky every hour, according to our very own local expert Derek Kief, astronomer at the HR MacMillan Centre.
Kief spoke to The Vancouver Sun about where to view the Perseid Meteor Shower. Here’s what he had to say.
“It is annual, but it should be really cool this year because there will be a new moon (and maximum darkness) on the 14th (of August),” says Kief. “Last year, there was a full moon and it was too bright. You’ll see a lot more this year.”
The peak of the meteor shower will continue through Thursday night next week.
Kief says the meteors will be bright enough to see with the naked eye. “You can’t track them with a telescope because they are too fast.”
He advises heading outside “to a dark space.” He’s planning to gaze from a park in Kitsilano, but “you could even get outside of the city” to avoid the distraction of bright lights.
Meteor showers are visible as the Earth moves through a trail of ice and rock particles left behind by a comet or asteroid.
The Perseid is one of the most anticipated of the year for the sheer number of meteors that can be seen. It comes from the tail of the comet named Swift-Turtle, which last came near Earth in 1992.
It is usually seen across the Northern Hemisphere until the end of the summer. This year it continues until around August 24.
Last modified: August 13, 2015
