The annual Perseid meteor shower will peak this weekend in Southern California skies with mostly favorable viewing conditions in most areas.
Some meteors could be visible as early as 10 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. But astronomers say that the best time to look will be from midnight to sunrise.
There will be a waning crescent moon, which will reduce light that can wash out the appearance of some meteors.
NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke says that, “People in the U.S. can reasonably expect to see around 40 Perseids in the hour just before dawn on the peak nights. That’s about one every couple of minutes, which is not bad. However, we are assuming you are out in the country, well away from cities and suburbs.”
Starting around 11 p.m. local time Saturday, a few meteors will start to show up — maybe one every 15 minutes, Cooke estimated. They’ll keep picking up the pace until before dawn on Sunday, when “you’ll see meteors appear all over the place,” he said.
These meteors represent small remnants of comet Swift-Tuttle, which was discovered 161 years ago by Lewis Swift and Horace Tuttle. The space debris typically causes a flash of light when it hits the upper atmosphere. The light can vary in color, but most meteors last only a second or two.
Swift-Tuttle is 16 miles wide, which is slightly longer than the distance from downtown Los Angeles to Westwood. Scientists say that a comet of that size would cause mass extinctions if it hit Earth. They’re quick to note, however, that Swift-Tuttle is not on a collision course with our planet.
How best to watch the show? Areas with dark skies away from city lights are ideal — including such familiar points as local mountains and desert outposts, Joshua Tree National Park and Death Valley.
However, the display will be visible just about anywhere, providing we don’t get hit with cloudy skies or an especially thick marine layer.
So just “lie on your back, look away from the moon and take in…
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