Perseid Meteor Shower 2023: The Perseid meteor shower will be visible on August 12 as the Earth passes through the comet Swift-Tuttle’s most dusty debris. Bill Cooke, a NASA meteorologist, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying, “If the weather is clear and the sky is dark, you can see a Perseid every minute or so if you go outside just before dawn.”
According to NASA, the greatest view of the Perseid meteor shower will be in the Northern Hemisphere.
NASA reports that the Perseid meteor shower is often considered the finest of the year due to its high rates and pleasant late-summer temperatures.
According to NASA, only the Perseid meteor shower can delay a Space Shuttle launch. It was stated that the 1993 NASA – STS-51 launch was delayed due to concerns regarding the Perseid meteor shower activity. According to NASA, a spacecraft in Earth orbit could be damaged by even a small piece of the meteor shower’s debris if an extraordinarily heavy meteor shower is forecasted.
Perseid Meteor Shower 2023: What exactly are Perseids?
The Perseid meteor shower is one of the largest. It happens annually in late summer. When the Earth moves through fields of floating debris in space, meteor showers occur. The Perseids originate from the comet Swift-Tuttle, which is a large ice and rock mass that emits dusty particles as it orbits the sun. When the earth passes by, these fragments are captured by our atmosphere and ignite, producing the streaming lights. The Perseid meteor shower is named after the constellation Perseus because the meteors’ paths appear to originate from this region of the sky.
Annual Perseid Meteor Shower Peak Night 2023: Date, History, Facts, Events
When and how can the Perseid meteor shower be observed?
The head of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office, Bill Cooke, stated, “People in the United States can expect to see approximately 40 Perseids in the hour just before dawn on peak evenings. That’s an acceptable rate of one every couple of minutes.” He added that this is visible in rural areas outside of cities and suburbs. According to NASA, the brighter heavens of suburban areas significantly reduce the rate, with less than ten expected per hour.
This year’s shower is already active, but the primary event will occur this weekend, from Saturday night to Sunday morning, when the shower reaches its peak. Saturday night around 11 p.m. local time, a few meteors will begin to appear, approximately one every 15 minutes, according to Cooke. Adding more, he said, “The meteor shower will continue to intensify until before dawn on Sunday, when you’ll see meteors everywhere.”
