Every year, the world comes together for the highly anticipated Perseids Meteor Shower, which comes around mid-August. This year, it peaked on Tuesday, August 12th into early Wednesday morning, and people in the northern hemisphere couldn’t have been more excited. Across backyards, campgrounds, and quiet rural roads, stargazers gathered to watch the night sky come alive with flashes of light. Many described the view as magical, with meteors streaking overhead every few minutes.

What’s a meteor shower?
A meteor shower is a natural event in the sky where many meteors (which are bright streaks of light often called “shooting stars”) appear in the night for a short period. These meteors are caused when Earth passes through a stream of debris left behind by a comet or even an asteroid, though that is less common. The tiny particles, which are no larger than a grain of sand, travel at incredibly high speeds and burn up due to friction with the Earth’s atmosphere, producing the glowing trails seen in the sky. Meteor showers are usually named after the constellation where the meteors seem to originate, including the Perseids (from Perseus). Most occur annually around the exact dates, which is why they are often highly anticipated events. Viewing is best in dark areas away from light pollution. According to NASA, some showers produce only a few meteors per hour, while major ones can display dozens or even hundreds per hour during their peaks.

The Perseids Shower
Humans have been tracking this shower since its first recorded appearance in 36 A.D. (nearly 2000 years ago!) by Chinese astronomers. NASA’s lead for the Meteoroid Environments Office, Bill Cooke, told ABC News that it is easiest to see the shower using just your eyes rather than with equipment like a telescope or binoculars. The Perseid meteor shower is made up of space debris from the Comet Swift-Tuttle, which last passed through our region of the solar system in 1992. This comet was discovered in 1862 by Lewis Swift and Horace Tuttle and leaves behind a trail of particles that Earth passes through each year. When these tiny fragments hit Earth’s atmosphere, they burn up and produce bright streaks of light in the sky. As mentioned before, the shower is named after the Perseus constellation because the meteors appear to radiate from that area. According to NASA, the Perseids remained active until September 1st, with peak viewing on Tuesday. For the best experience, viewers chose dark, safe locations away from city lights, brought comfortable chairs, dressed warmly, and allowed about 30 minutes for their eyes to adjust to the darkness. Many stayed out for hours, enjoying not only the meteors but also the stillness and beauty of the summer night sky. As NASA’s Bill Cooke noted, the meteors weren’t visible in the early evening, you had to stay up late, but the beautiful display was worth the wait.

The Perseid Meteor Shower is more than just some cool space thing. It’s a time when you can hang out outside, look up, and see how awesome the universe really is. You don’t need a telescope or anything, just a dark spot and some patience. At first it might seem like nothing’s happening, but then you see one of those quick streaks of light and it’s super exciting. Even though it’s over for this year, it’s something people will remember and look forward to again next summer.