Where is the best place to see the Perseid meteor shower in 2024? What is the best time to see the Perseids? The year’s biggest and best meteor shower is almost upon us, and NASA has begun answering questions about how to see as many “shooting stars” as possible. Its main advice? Get out of the city and find dark rural skies.
When Is The Perseid Meteor Shower: Dates
The Perseid meteor shower runs from July 14 through September 1, 2024, but will peak on the night of Sunday, August 11, through Monday, August 12. Although you may have already seen some Perseids, it’s that peak night when you need to be ready. According to the American Meteor Society, the peak is around 04:00 UTC on August 12, midnight EDT on August 12.
ForbesHere’s When To See The Perseid Meteor Shower Peak In Every U.S. State.
Perseid Meteor Shower: When To Look
The times this year are perfect. “This year’s Perseids will be slightly impacted by a 53% waxing Moon, but the Moon will set right as the Perseids begin to peak,” reads a blog post published by NASA. The moon, albeit half-lit, so significantly bright, will set about midnight wherever you are in North America, making the best advice relatively simple—look from after the moon sets (or thereabouts) until dawn.
Take lots of breaks—nobody can intensely stare at the night sky for more than 30 minutes—but avoid looking at your cell phone or any other white light that will destroy your night vision. Red light is much less harmful.
Where To See The Perseid Meteor Shower
“Get out of the city! Try to get to the darkest location you can. The darker it is where you are, the more meteors you will see streaking across the sky,” states NASA.
A location with a clear, unobstructed view of the night sky is essential, but what you need more than anything is a clear, dark sky. The best idea is to get as far away from urban light pollution as possible, which can be done by consulting a Light Pollution Map, or, if you want to head somewhere in particular, an International Dark Sky Park. Rural camping is the best idea—Camping On Public Lands can be a great idea for meteor showers. So can Hipcamp’s Best Stargazing Near Me listings.
Visiting an organized viewing event for the Perseids is another great way to witness this meteor shower.
Which Direction To Look To See Perseids
You can look anywhere in the night sky. Perseids will appear to come from the northeast—where its radiant constellation, Perseus (hence their name), will be rising after dark—but that’s not hugely important. All it means is that if you trace the trail of a “shooting star” back the way it came, it will seem to go from Perseus.
More crucial is not to use a telescope or binoculars, which will significantly reduce your chances of seeing “shooting stars.”
Perseid Meteor Shower: How Many ‘Shooting Stars?’
It varies. “There can be as little as a few dozen per hour, but some rare years bring a brief ‘burst’ of up to two hundred beautiful ‘shooting stars’ an hour,” states NASA. The “zenithal hourly rates” you’ll read about suggest that as many as 150 may be visible, but that figure refers to how many it would be possible to see if you could look at the entire clear, dark sky at once, horizon to horizon, at just the right time.
In practice, expect to get about 50 “shooting stars” per hour. That would be a terrific result.
Perseids And Northern Lights?
Will you see both on the same night? It’s possible because solar activity is currently at a 23-year high, with a strong display of Northern Lights reported as far south as central California last weekend and a couple of strong solar flares since.
Whether geomagnetic storms will be ongoing on Sunday through Monday night is unclear—check on NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, specifically its latest “aurora view line,” which represents the southernmost locations from which you may see the aurora on the northern horizon.ForbesSee Perseid Meteors Peak With The Northern Lights: The Night Sky This Week
NASA’s Top Tips To See ‘Shooting Stars’
Here are tips from NASA about how best to see the Perseids this year:
- Get out of the city.
- Check the weather forecast.
- Find a meteor shower party near you
- Stay warm and comfortable outside—be prepared.
- Bring your friends and family.
The Perseid meteor shower is caused by the dust and debris left in the inner solar system by comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. Swift-Tuttle last visited in 1992 and is next due to visit in 2125.
