Perseid Meteor Shower

The best viewing for the ongoing Perseid meteor shower will be tonight, and the weather is in full cooperation with catching a good view. One of the last visible satellite images before we lose daylight today shows just a few clouds around southern Kentucky, and these mostly clear skies will continue overnight.

The Perseid meteor shower is typically the best of the year. This annual event occurs as the Earth orbits around the Sun and passes through a cloud of debris from the Swift-Tuttle comet. Some of this rock and ice debris burns up as it enters the atmosphere and creates a beautiful meteor shower.

The best viewing for this event is usually in the northern hemisphere.

The shower will peak overnight and areas with the best visibility could see up to 30-40 meteors per hour. Meteors should be visible most of the night with a peak in activity just before daybreak.

When looking to see these meteors, you will want to be facing northeast. Before midnight, any meteors will be close to the horizon. As the night goes on these meteors will be higher up in the sky. During the best activity near day break you should be looking nearly 60° up at the sky.

The only issue we will have in seeing the Perseids tonight is the bright and nearly-full moon we will have. The moon is currently waning and 92% full. All of the moonlight will make it tougher to see the meteor shower, but we will be still able to see most of the brighter ones.

To keep up with the latest meteor reports around the country, check out the American Meteor Society. Even though the peak of the activity is tonight, we could see a few more meteors in the next several days.