Every August, the most entertaining spectacle in our solar system isn’t in theaters or on a streaming service, but above all our heads at night: the cosmic pyrotechnics display that is the Perseid meteor shower. This year’s entry in this long-running annual show coincides with the warmest nights and early mornings of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, which will be a good one.
2024’s display comes with impressive — possibly even blockbuster — viewing conditions.
Exactly what are the Perseids?
The Perseid meteor shower is our planet’s annual run-in with the trail of debris left behind by a comet called 109P/Swift-Tuttle, which, like us, is orbiting the sun, but on a different course that happens to intersect with ours. As the Earth orbits through this trail of tiny granules called meteoroids, they slam into our atmosphere at blistering speeds and ignite. The meteoroids become what we call meteors only for a moment, during their spectacular deaths.
This all happens about 60 miles above your head during your meteor-gazing session. For reference, the moon is roughly 24,000 miles away, and Mirfak, the brightest star in the constellation Perseus, is 510 light-years away. The meteors are very close, in other words — so close that you can sometimes hear them.
Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, with its 16-mile-wide nucleus, is colossal — the largest object known to repeatedly pass by our planet, which it won’t do again until 2126. Will this giant ever smash into Earth? Not in 2126, and possibly not ever. But there’s a tiny chance it could — catastrophically — at some indeterminate point in the distant future.
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When to catch the Perseids at their peak in 2024
The show will crescendo, with 100 meteors per hour sometimes visible, in the pre-dawn hours of August 12.
For best results, stay up late the night of Sunday, August 11, and into the early hours of Monday, or look up when the sky is dark any time until the end of August. Viewing conditions depend on how dim the moon is, and in 2024 we’re in luck: it will only be at 50 percent illumination at the peak. It’s also set to dip below the horizon around midnight, meaning the wee hours of the morning will be essentially moonless for your meteor viewing pleasure.
As always, the moon’s precise schedule differs depending on where you are, so check your local listings.
It’s worth noting that as one of the more drawn-out meteor displays, the Perseids linger for well over a month every year, meaning activity is visible from mid-July to late August. Peak activity is when you’ll theoretically see the most meteors, assuming favorable moon and weather conditions, but any clear night during the shower’s active period is a chance to see the Perseids. For instance, the new moon on August 4 will darken the skies, providing another possible opportunity for great off-peak viewing.
How to spot the Perseids in 2024
The Perseids get their name from the fact that they appear to radiate from the constellation Perseus. This can be a little deceptive, however, because you don’t have to worry about finding Perseus; meteors seem to streak across the whole sky during a shower. Pointing out Perseus during your viewing session will make you the hand-raising, A+ student of your stargazing party — but it probably won’t help anyone see more meteors.
For optimum viewing, get to a dark location away from city lights. Even suburban or exurban lights can pollute the precious darkness, so get to the deep wilderness if you can. Give your pupils about 30 minutes to widen, initiating your body’s too-seldom-used night vision mode. Telescopes and binoculars are fun but unnecessary, or even counterproductive since they limit your peripheral vision.
But I’m making this too complicated. Is it your first time stargazing in a while? Just do what they do in movies: lie back on a blanket, relax, and stare up at the dang sky.
