Perseid Shower Starts July 17, Bringing 50-100 Meteors an Hour at Aug. 12-13 Peak
Updated
Updated · Deseret News · Jul 12
Perseid Shower Starts July 17, Bringing 50-100 Meteors an Hour at Aug. 12-13 Peak
3 articles · Updated · Deseret News · Jul 12
Summary
July 17 marks the start of the Perseid meteor shower, which will run through Aug. 24 and reach its best viewing window on the night of Aug. 12-13.
A new moon will coincide with the peak, giving Northern Hemisphere stargazers darker skies; the best viewing comes after midnight and just before dawn.
50 to 100 meteors per hour are typically visible during the Perseids, whose fast, bright streaks come from dust shed by comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle.
Other summer showers are already active, but the Southern Delta Aquariids and Alpha Capricornids face brighter moonlight around their July 30-31 peaks, making the Perseids the standout display.
133,200 mph is the speed a typical Perseid particle reaches in Earth's atmosphere, underscoring why NASA tracks meteoroids as a persistent hazard to spacecraft and crews.