The Perseid meteor shower is returning. Here's what to expect
CTV
The Perseid meteor shower, one of the brightest and best displays of shooting stars all year, is in the forecast for next week, according to NASA.
The meteor shower peaks annually in August, when earth travels through debris left by the 1992 comet, Swift-Tuttle. There are an estimated 100 meteors visible per-hour during its peak, according to the American space agency.
“The meteor shower is a really fun and interesting event for anybody, it’s accessible to anybody, anybody can watch it, and it is something that happens every year around this same time of the year,” Jennifer West, an astrophysicist for the National Research Council of Canada, told CTVNews.ca.
“It is a time of year where we can see a lot of these bright streaks through the sky – sometimes people call them shooting starts, but they’re not stars at all – and it’s just a really interesting event that anybody can watch.”
The shower is expected to begin on the night of Aug. 11 and peak on Aug. 12. The shooting stars can be seen in the days leading up to, and following, the peak.
