Avoid artificial light as much as possible when viewing the shower.There are a few tricks and tips to employ when observing any meteor shower: Equipment: Canon 5D3, 24-70mm lens, tripod mount. Peak activity represents us passing through the densest part of the stream.įor more on the science of meteor showers, read our guide What causes a meteor shower? Perseid Radiant Meteors by Kevin Lewis, Anglesey, UK. Over the activity period, the radiant’s position drifts against the background stars. In the case of the Perseid meteor shower, the radiant is the constellation Perseus. Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through dust distributed around a comet’s orbit.Įntering our atmosphere on parallel paths, perspective causes meteor trails to appear to emanate from the same sky location, known as the shower radiant. Equipment: Canon EOS 5D Mark III, Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L, Kenko Softon filter, Fornax LighTrack II. What causes the Perseid meteor shower? Perseus Constellation by Alex Conu, Reine, Norway. Equipment: Canon EOS 5D Mark II, AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G IF-ED. Perseid Fireball Above City Light by Jeff Dai, Mount Jinfo, Chongqing, China. At 180° from the radiant, trails shorten, appearing to converge on the 'anti-radiant'.Longest trails are visible at 90° to the radiant.Looking northeast towards Perseus delivers shorter meteors that are easier to line up with the radiant.Look at an altitude around 60° in any direction.Make yourself comfortable (use a reclining chair to avoid neck cramp).Find a dark location away from stray light.The night of 13/14 August should be good too, but on the evening of 13 August, as meteor rates naturally fall, the shower radiant will be lower and it’ll be best before midnight UT.ĭuring the morning of 14 August, the rates should naturally have fallen below half their predicted peak. The night of 12/13 August should show best activity for the Perseid meteor shower, especially into the morning of the 13th. Equipment: Olympus M-D E-M 5 Camera, 8mm fisheye lens, tripod When's best to see the 2023 Perseid meteor shower Aurora and Perseid meteor, by Olli Reijonen, Syrjävaara, Finland, August 12 2022. However, it’s not as simple as this, because activity appears naturally enhanced for the Perseids when the shower radiant (the point in the sky from which the meteors appear to emanate) in Perseus is higher in the sky and after midnight UT from the UK. The actual peak tends to show significant enhanced activity for a period of around 16 hours centred on that peak – this is the width of the peak beyond which activity falls to less than half the actual peak value. The specific time of the peak represents when we are in the densest part of the dust stream. Perseid meteors occur when Earth passes through the dust spread around the orbit of comet 109P/Swift–Tuttle. Perseid activity is modelled to produce a sharp peak centred around a specific time. Credit: Pete Lawrence Why Perseids peak, and what it means for observing This is the point from which Perseid meteors will appear to emanate. A chart showing the radiant for the 2023 Perseid meteor shower throughout August. This means that over the date range we’ve given for the Perseid meteor shower, there will be no moonlight interference this year. It will be at last quarter phase on 8 August and at new Moon on 16 August. The Moon is easier to predict it’s either going to be a nuisance like it was in 2022, or it’s not. You can’t do a great deal about the former, except monitor forecasts and relocate to a clear site if it looks like your location is going to be poor. The quality of the display that we see during the peak of a meteor shower is determined by two factors: the weather and the Moon. Lunar phase for the 2023 Perseid meteor shower Credit: Kevin Key / Slworking / Getty Imagesįor more info on the year's displays, read our complete guide to meteor showers. A 2016 Perseid meteor over Cleveland National Forest, California, USA. In this guide we'll reveal what the Perseid meteor shower is, when and how to see it. If you want to watch the build up to and from the peak, the nights from 10/11 to 15/16 August are worth considering too. The Perseids will peak is predicted to occur in the early hours of 13 August, meaning the best nights to observe the shower will be 12/13 and 13/14 August. The Perseid Meteor Shower 2023 is set to peak over the next few nights, making this weekend the ideal time to spot a meteor in the night sky.
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