The 2023 Perseid meteor shower peaks this weekend! Here's what you need to know.

By Robert Lea published 1 day ago

The Perseids are one of the highlights of the meteor hunters' calendar.



meteors streak through a star filled sky above mountains and small wooden lodges.
Perseid meteor shower captured in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the Alps in 2018. (Image credit: Dneutral Han via Getty Images)

The Perseid meteor shower will peak this weekend as Earth makes a yearly dive through debris left behind by a Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle.

The peak activity of the Perseid meteor shower will occur around 04:00 EDT (0800 GMT) on Sunday. Aug. 13.

The Perseids are a yearly highlight for meteor hunters who, in the right conditions, could see as many as 100 fireballs and light trails per hour from the meteor shower, according to the Royal Museums Greenwich, with even more potentially visible at the shower's peak.

This year the Perseid meteor shower is active between July 17 and Aug. 24. The Perseids takes its name from the fact that its meteors appear to streak towards Earth from the constellation Perseus. Astronomers call the point from which meteors appear to stream the radiant.

More:
https://www.space.com/perseid-meteor-shower-2023-peak-this-weekend-aug-12-what-to-know?utm_source=notification