Perseid meteor shower set to peak this week: Here's how and when to watch

Skywatchers are gearing up for one of nature’s best fireworks show as the Perseid meteor shower peaks late Wednesday night through Friday morning.

And with the moon in its new phase, leaving behind perfectly dark skies, this annual astronomical event promises to put on a great performance, producing as many as 60 to 100 shooting stars per hour at peak times.

The official peak of the shower is well timed for North American viewing, occurring between 9 pm EDT Wednesday through 10 am EDT Thursday. However the Perseids will continue to fall until Aug. 25, with each consecutive night seeing about half the number of shooting stars.

As with most other annual meteor showers, the Perseids are formed from a giant cloud of particles in space, most of these space stones being no bigger than a grain of sand. Streams of this stuff float in space and are actually debris that has been shed from a passing comet.

In the case of the Perseids this week, the meteors all once called comet Swift-Tuttle their home. This dirty snowball loops around the sun every 133 years, last appearing in our neighbourhood back in 1992 – when it was visible through binoculars. Its next appearance in 2126 promises to be better, being bright enough to be seen with the unaided eye.

The egg-shaped orbit of the comet means that each time the comet flies close by the sun, its ice begins to melt, releasing trapped material that then gets left behind in the same orbit as the comet.

While the comet itself is a rare sight, every year like clockwork in mid August, Earth and the meteor stream’s orbit end up on collision course, and our planet slams into the debris field.

Like bugs splattering on the windshield of a high-speed car, the individual meteors slam into Earth’s atmosphere at amazingly high speeds – estimated to be around 100,000 km per hour. The friction with the dense air actually ionizes the small stones causing them to burn up within a fraction of a second in the upper atmosphere, producing that iconic streak of light we affectionately call a ‘shooting star’.

Keen skywatchers looking up at the Perseids will notice that when tracing back those streaks of light, each meteor appears to radiate out from one particular part of the sky; the shower's namesake constellation Perseus just above the bright yellow star Capella.

Capella is one of the brightest stars in the heavens – visible even from bright cities – rising in the northeast around midnight this time of the year. So to catch most of the meteors, face the northeast part of the sky beginning after nightfall Wednesday and Thursday.

By the time the meteor fall rates reach their peak in the pre-dawn hours, Capella will be shining nearly directly overhead, making it appear that the meteors are radiating out in all directions of the sky.

Forget about using telescopes and binoculars, as the best way to catch the show is to just use the unaided eyes as the streaks of light can appear over large tracts of the sky. Bring out a reclining lawn chair, sleeping bag and some hot chocolate to enjoy this celestial shower.

According to The Weather Network forecasters, people in Western and Central Canada will have the best chances for catching the Perseids peak between Wednesday and Thursday this week, with large regions in Alberta through southern Ontario having clear skies.

Try to find a viewing spot that has an open view of as much of the overhead sky as possible and head out of light-polluted cities, into the dark countryside where more of the fainter meteors can be seen.

And what happens if you get clouded out or are stuck indoors? Don’t fret, because the astronomy outreach venture slooh.com has you covered with live webcasts of the Perseid meteor shower with all-sky cameras set up in Canada, United Kingdom, and the Canary Islands off the west coast of Africa.

The live broadcast will begin tonight, Aug. 12 at 5 pm PDT / 8 pm EDT.