Expect hundreds of tiny meteors falling on the night sky between Aug. 11 and Aug. 12, during the climax of the Perseid meteor shower.
Speaking with Express, astronomer Steve Bowden explained what stargazers should expect during the peak hours of the annual meteor shower this year.
"The Perseids is one of the best meteor showers of the year, producing up to 60 meteors per hour at its peak," Bowden said. "The meteors are part of comet Swift-Tuttle, which was discovered in 1862 but sadly, will not make another appearance until 2126."
The annual shower started in July 17, while the earth began going through the dust trail of the Swift-Tuttle comet. For this year, the shower will peak on Thursday and Friday this week, but the best hours to wait for the meteors to drop on the Earth will be in the early hours of the morning on Friday, right after midnight.
CNY Observers director Damian Allis told New York Upstate that the most ideal area to watch the Perseid Meteor Shower this year is "a dark spot with a distant tree line on the horizon and clear sky above you."
Reports also claim that the best way to catch the meteor shower this week is to simply lie down on a blanket with the feet pointing towards the northeast direction. NASA also reminded anyone who wants to get the most of the stargazing experience to allow the eyes to have at least 45 minutes to adjust to the darkness of the night.
Allis also revealed that bringing binoculars when watching the meteor shower is a no-no.
"Magnification is the worst thing to do with meteors," the CNY Observers director stated. "If you try to magnify, you constrain yourself to smaller pieces of the sky, and that's going to limit what you see."
