OCEANSIDE, CA — Look up in the sky, Oceanside! It's the Perseid meteor shower, often regarded as the best meteor shower of the year and 2021 should be a great year to catch them.
The local forecast in Oceanside from the National Weather Service is for clear skies on Wednesday, the August 11 peak date for the Perseid meteor shower. With clear skies, you could see what some consider the most spectacular cosmic light show.
That bright moon will wane in the first week of August. The Perseid meteor shower, which runs July 17-Aug. 24, will be well underway by that point, and viewing conditions should be ideal for the Aug. 11-12 peak.
To best see the Perseids, go to the darkest possible location and lean back to observe as much sky as possible directly above you.
The best time to look for meteors is in the pre-dawn hours. While the meteors will peak between August 11-13, they typically start streaking through the sky on July 17 and will be visible from this start date through the peak and typically through 10 days or so after the peak, according to Earthsky.org.
While the peak viewing days are typically your best shot to see the sky speckled with bright meteors, even outside of the Perseids peak timeframe, you should be able to spot a few meteors between midnight and dawn any morning the week before or after this date, according to NASA. To see the meteors, look up and to the north. Those in southern latitudes can look toward the northeast to see more meteors.
Skywatchers looking out for the Perseids might also see some stray meteors from the Delta Aquariid meteor shower.
The Delta Aquariids reliably produce meteors for a couple of days on either side of the peak date and will continue to fire through about Aug. 23, intersecting with the Perseids, often regarded as the best meteor shower of the year — though the Geminid meteor shower in December is special in its own right.
The Perseid meteor shower will peak on the evening of Aug. 12, just four days after the new moon on Aug. 8, so dark skies should be quite favorable for the annual display, which is one of the most dependable displays of "shooting stars." That's in stark contrast to next August, when the meteors will coincide with a full moon.
Although rates of Perseids will be highest from the early morning hours of Aug. 12 until Aug. 14, all told, the meteor shower will last about two weeks, from July 25 to Aug. 18. This year, you can expect to see up to 60 meteors per hour at the shower's peak, according to Earthsky.org.
More: Perseid meteor shower 2021: When, where & how to see it
NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke told Space.com that 2021 should be a stellar year for the Perseids, which are known for bright, persistent trains. If skies are clear, skywatchers will be able to see about 100 shooting stars an hour, Cooke said, though he explained that in more typical conditions, people should be able to see one meteor every minute.
"The Perseids are rich in fireballs, so they'll be bright," Cooke said.
Cooke, who leads the Meteoroid Environment Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, said meteor shower watching requires an investment in time and preparation. Some tips:
- Get as far away from city lights as possible.
- Give your eyes about 30-45 minutes to adapt to the darkness.
- Take in as much of the sky as possible; take along a reclining lawn chair or a blanket and lie flat on your back.
- It can be helpful to find the radiant point (for the Perseids, that's the prominent constellation of Perseus; for the Delta Aquariids, it's the constellation Aquarius the Water Bearer). But avoid staring directly at it. The longer streaks are visible farther away from the radiant point.
Also, Cooke told Space.com, ditch the cell phone.
"The bright screen can throw a wrench in your efforts to adjust your night vision," he said. "My suggestion to my friends who want to observe meteors is, leave your phone inside."
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