Perseid Meteor Shower This Week is Going to be Spectacular with the New Moon

Get ready, sky watchers. The Perseid meteor shower this week is set to impress. A new moon should make the skies perfect for watching the display in utter darkness.

Meteors are the result of small particles, some as small as a grain of sand, entering Earth's atmosphere at high speed. In the case of this meteor shower, the tail of the Comet Swift-Tuttle left debris in the Earth's path. As Earth moves through this debris, the particles heat the air around them and cause a characteristic streak of light.

The Perseids are so-named because it looks like the meteors originate from a single point in the constellation of Perseus. The best way to watch them, though, is not by looking at Perseus; instead, it's better to take on the broad expanse of the sky.

The meteor shower itself is actually active each year from around July 17 to about August 24. However, there are peak times to see meteors. This year, the best time to see the meteors will be on the nights of Aug. 12 to Aug. 13. There will be more meteors to be seen during the morning hours, and you could see as many as 100 meteors per hour.

Some of the best equipment to use for a meteor shower is the naked eye. This means that one of the best things to do to see the meteor shower this Thursday is to head to a place where there are little in the way of city lights and try to get an unobstructed view of the sky. As long as it isn't cloudy, you should be able to see meteor streaking across the sky.

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