Meteor showers Perseids
Perseids
The easiest shower to catch in the north
The best-placed annual shower for the north: steady rates, and warm nights at maximum.
- Active period
- 17 July to 24 August
- Usual maximum
- Around 12 August
- ZHR under ideal skies
- About 100
01 / Overview
Meet Perseids
The Perseids peak around 12 August, reaching close to a hundred meteors an hour under ideal skies. They are the north’s favourite shower half because the rate is dependable and half because the maximum falls on warm summer nights, with the radiant above the horizon all night long.
An unusually large parent comet
Comet 109P/Swift–Tuttle has a nucleus about 26 km across, making it one of the largest known objects that periodically approaches Earth’s orbit, on a cycle of roughly 133 years. It last returned in 1992, and Earth still crosses the dust it laid down along the way every August.
A high share of fireballs
Perseids enter the atmosphere at about 59 km/s, and a fair number outshine Venus and leave a brief train behind. The bright ones show even near a city, but counting the true rate still means getting away from the lights.
02 / Key data
Core parameters
- Active period
- 17 July to 24 August
- Usual maximum
- Around 12 August
- ZHR under ideal skies
- About 100
- Parent body
- Comet 109P/Swift–Tuttle
- Recurrence
- Mid-August, every year
Data and calculation notes
Active periods, peak dates and rates are multi-year averages; each year differs a little, so plan against the forecast issued for the year in question.
03 / Observing tips
How to watch
- The radiant is up all night and climbs after midnight, taking the rate up with it.
- Watch with the naked eye; a telescope’s field is far too narrow for meteors.
- Once on site, give your eyes twenty minutes to adapt to the dark.
04 / Sources