One of the best meteor showers. When to see the Perseids?

The Perseids are one of the brightest cosmic events to be observed in the night sky. The orbit of the meteor shower associated with Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle regularly crosses the Earth’s orbit, which is why the “shooting stars” appear above our heads from July 17 to August 24. It is worth looking at them now and remembering that the real cosmic spectacle is yet to come. The maximum of this swarm falls on August 12 and 13.

NASA says the Perseids are the best meteor shower of the year. The meteors that make up the shower pass through Earth’s atmosphere with stunning speed, often leaving long streaks of light behind them. The Perseids can move at speeds of up to 60 km/s, and at the peak of the shower, up to 100 of them can appear in the sky per hour.

The Perseid meteor shower appears in the skies of the region from July 17 to August 24. However, the maximum falls on the night of August 12-13. On these days, we can count on the most spectacular displays of “shooting stars”, although this depends on the weather conditions. The Perseid meteor shower, like other cosmic events, is best observed in clear skies and away from light pollution.

No special equipment is needed to observe the Perseids. They are bright and move very quickly, so we should have no problem locating them in the sky. The best time to observe the Perseids is late at night or early in the morning. The meteors from this shower come from around the constellation Perseus. In practical terms, this means that observers from Poland should look to the northeast and look for the Perseids there.

The rest of the article is below the video.

The Perseids are linked to Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, discovered by Lewis Swift and Horace Tuttle in 1862. It is 26 kilometers wide and takes 133 years to orbit the Sun. NASA says 109P/Swift-Tuttle is twice the size of the body that supposedly wiped out the dinosaurs. The Perseids are the remnants of this comet that burn up spectacularly in the atmosphere.