Perseids 2024. One of the most beautiful meteor showers returns to our skies

The Perseids are one of the most frequent meteor showers whose orbit intersects with Earth’s. The phenomenon appears in the sky from approximately July 17 to August 24, and is best observed in the Northern Hemisphere. At the shower’s maximum, you can see up to several dozen “shooting stars” per hour.

In 2024, the maximum of the Perseid meteor shower will fall on the night of August 12-13, but it is worth looking at the sky both earlier and later – space rocks leave behind bright traces, impressive even beyond the maximum.

It’s best to watch the meteor night from a dark location outside the city, as far away from the glare as possible. The radiant – the point from which the meteors appear to “fly” – is located in the constellation Perseus, but during the shower’s activity it moves between the constellations Cassiopeia, Perseus, and Giraffe. All you need to watch the phenomenon is the naked eye.

The Perseids are associated with Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, which comes close to the Sun once every 133 years, and last visited us in 1992. Each such visit causes the comet’s icy core to partially melt and release lots of small rock fragments. When Earth passes through a cloud of cosmic dust, the fragments burn up in the atmosphere, creating a distinctive glow.

The Perseids were formerly called the “Tears of Saint Lawrence”, in connection with the date of his alleged martyrdom, August 10.