Early Monday morning the 2014 Perseid meteor shower began over North America, and will peak on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, August 11-13. Sunday night there was in increase in the number of showers seen and that should only get better by early Monday morning, according to EarthSky. The Perseid meteor showers are the most watched shower of the year.
Clear skies are expected over most of the United States at night during these two days so viewing the Perseid meteor showers should be easy to view for many Americans. If your area doesn’t have clear skies, you can watch the showers live on the NASA website.
Each year, the Perseid meteor showers are active from July 23 through August 22, and each year they peak (when the most meteor showers can be seen) on August 11 and 12. The most meteors can be seen Tuesday and Wednesday mornings between 2 and 5 a.m. and in some areas 60-100 meteors per hour are expected. Some meteors may be seen as early as 9 p.m. the night before.
Weather permitting, each August the Perseid meteor shower displays a spectacular light show in the sky. Viewers from around the world have been enjoying the night sky lights since the showers began. The Perseid meteor showers have been watched by people around the world for 2000 years.
Most meteors (sometimes called shooting or falling stars), are tiny bits of rock that burn when they hit the Earth's atmosphere and the ash falls harmlessly to the ground. These meteors can be seen with the naked eye, and using binoculars or telescopes may limit your view of the sky. Try to get away from city light as much as possible for better viewing.
This particular shower is called the Perseids because they appear to radiate from the constellation Perseus, and these are typically one of the fastest moving showers, with meteors ripping into the atmosphere at 60 kilometers per second. See the video above for a time lapsed video of a past meteor shower.
To see an incredible slideshow of photos from past meteor showers, click here.
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