How to View the Perseid Meteor Showers

If, around August 12th, you go outside between midnight and dawn and look up for a minute or so, you'll most likely spot a meteor streaking through the sky. The August Perseid meteors were the first that astronomers associated with a particular comet. In the mid 1860s, Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli observed that Perseids followed the appearance of the Swift-Tuttle Comet.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Film
• Cameras
• Binoculars
• Sleeping Bags
• Digital Cameras
• Camera Accessories
• Camera Tripod
• Telescopes
• Sky And Telescope Subscriptions
• Telescope Camera Adapters
• Red-lens Flashlights With A Red-tinted Lens
• Patio Chairs

1. Watch for Perseid meteors in the night skies from July 23rd to August 22nd.

2. Get away from artificial light if possible.

3. Dress appropriately for nighttime viewing. As a summer event, Perseids may be one of the few meteor showers you can observe in shirtsleeves.

4. Look toward constellation Perseus for the radiant point of Perseid meteors. They'll seem to come from that area, which is about halfway above the horizon in the northeast quadrant of the sky.

5. Begin your search for Perseids after 10 p.m. (although the best viewing comes from midnight until dawn).

6. Recline with your feet facing due south and look straight up. Perseids should appear to come from over your left shoulder.

Tips & Warnings

• Meteors flame through the Earth's atmosphere when our planet passes through the tail of a comet. Miniscule particles, some like grains of sand, plunge into our atmosphere at fantastic speeds and vaporize, creating streaks of light as they burn.

• A flashlight with a red-tinted lens cover allows you to move around in the dark without diminishing your night vision.

• According to Gary W. Kronk, author of "Cometography," the Perseid meteor shower is "the most famous of all meteor showers. It never fails to provide an impressive display and, due to its summertime appearance, it tends to provide the majority of meteors seen by non-astronomy enthusiasts."

• Swift-Tuttle last passed close to the Earth in 1992, and as many as 500 Perseid meteors per hour were seen in parts of Europe. Activity at that level will not be observed again until 2126, when the comet again swings through our solar system.

• Looking directly at the radiant point causes meteors to appear faint and slow-moving.