This year marks the start of the Perseid meteor shower. Experts point out that this meteoroid's shooting stars do not peak until August.
One of the popular meteor showers of the year will happen for around a month and a half. If the circumstances are favorable, it may put up a good show when it peaks.
Perseids Meteor Shower 2022: Showing Dates
The Perseids meteor shower will begin on Sunday, July 17, and anybody looking up into the night sky may see some streaks among the stars.
Expect to see approximately 40 meteors per hour. Still, observers may see as many as 120 per hour during exceptionally severe storms, according to Andrew Fraknoi, emeritus chair of the astronomy department at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills.
The moonlight is anticipated to outshine some of the Perseids' weakest streaks on Aug. 11, the full moon's peak, which occurs one day before the shower's peak on Aug. 12. From July 17 to Aug. 24, stargazers will enjoy meteor showers .
However, there is a potential to witness brighter meteors if the Comet Swift-fragments, Tuttle's the shower's parent body, collide with a significant cloud of cosmic dust when they cross the Earth's orbit.
"The good news is the Perseids are unpredictable and sometimes have quite bright shooting stars, fireballs that are so bright they may look like fireworks," Fraknoi told San Francisco Chronicle.
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History of Perseids Meteor Shower
The meteoroid traveled through a path of dust, ice, rock, and biological debris that the comet Swift-Tuttle left in its wake and the tail, generating the Perseid meteor shower from Earth's perspective. WKBN noted that the celestial phenomenon usually occurs until the end of the summer each year.
WKBN added that the comet only pass by the planet every 133 years. It will be a while before it does so once more after it last passed by in 1992.
As it travels around the sun, the comet leaves a debris tail. The annual oversized meteor shower is caused by the debris burning when it hits the Earth's atmosphere.
According to Popular Mechanics, Perseids are distinguished from other meteor showers by their huge fireballs. The meteoroids leave long trails of light and color and appear to come from the Perseus constellation.
How to See Perseids Meteor Shower From Bay Area
Experts advise visiting a dark sky location in the Bay Area to view the meteor showers. According to the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers, some of the best places nearby include Henry Coe State Park in Morgan Hill and Del Valle Reservoir near Livermore.
Give your eyes at least 10 minutes to adjust to the darkness, ideally more. The use of a telescope or binoculars will restrict your range of view.
The best viewing times for the Perseids in San Francisco are from midnight until roughly 5 a.m.
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