{"id":21541,"date":"2021-08-06T09:17:06","date_gmt":"2021-08-06T09:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=50973"},"modified":"2021-08-06T09:24:15","modified_gmt":"2021-08-06T09:24:15","slug":"how-to-see-the-2021-perseid-meteor-shower","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/how-to-see-the-2021-perseid-meteor-shower\/","title":{"rendered":"How to see the 2021 Perseid meteor shower"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Pete Lawrence\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 06 August 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Every August the Perseid meteor shower provides a spectacular display in the night sky and in 2021, if skies are clear, we should get a decent show.<\/p>\n

Generally, the Perseid meteor shower occurs every year between 17 July and 24 August<\/strong>, with the exception of the peak period 8-16 August<\/strong>, and a sharp peak typically seen around 11\u201313 August<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The peak of the 2021 Perseid meteor shower is predicted for 20:00-23:00 BST (19:00-22:00 UT) on 12 August<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

For more info on the year\u2019s displays, read our complete guide to meteor showers<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\""A\"<\/div>
A chart showing the movement of the Perseid meteor shower radiant in 2021. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

On 12 August<\/strong>, the 4.5-day old, 20%-lit waxing crescent Moon sets at 22:35 BST (21:35 UT), which is well before the onset of astronomical darkness for much of the country, meaning fainter Perseid meteors will be easier to spot.<\/p>\n

Rates of Perseid activity naturally increase after local (non-daylight <\/span>saving time) midnight, so the period from 01:00-03:30 BST on 13 August<\/strong> is optimal.<\/p>\n

\""Perseid\"<\/div>
Perseid Fireball Above City Light by Jeff Dai, Mount Jinfo, Chongqing, China. Equipment: Canon EOS 5D Mark II, AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm f\/2.8G IF-ED.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

What causes the Perseid meteor shower?<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through dust distributed around a comet\u2019s orbit.<\/p>\n

Entering our atmosphere on parallel paths, perspective causes meteor trails to appear to emanate from the same sky location, known as the shower radiant.<\/p>\n

\""Perseus\"<\/div>
Perseus Constellation by Alex Conu, Reine, Norway. Equipment: Canon EOS 5D Mark III, Canon EF 17-40mm f\/4L, Kenko Softon filter, Fornax LighTrack II.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

In the case of the Perseid meteor shower, the radiant is the constellation Perseus.<\/p>\n

Over the activity period, the radiant\u2019s position drifts against the background stars. Peak activity represents us passing through the densest part of the stream.<\/p>\n

For more on the science of meteor showers, read our guide What causes a meteor shower<\/a>?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\""Perseid\"<\/div>
Perseid Radiant Meteors by Kevin Lewis, Anglesey, UK. Equipment: Canon 5D3, 24-70mm lens, tripod mount.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n
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How to see the Perseid meteor shower<\/strong><\/h1>\n

To get the best experience from the Perseids, avoid artificial light as much as possible when viewing the shower.<\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t necessarily mean travelling to a dark-sky site \u2013 it could just be trying to keep nearby street and house lights out of your line of sight.<\/p>\n

Safety is important too, so use a torch with a red filter (to preserve your night vision) to find your way. Make your own with our DIY guide on how to make a red light torch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\""A\"<\/div>
A red torch enables you to check charts without ruining dark adapted vision.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Let your eyes adapt to the darkness for 30-40 minutes and you\u2019ll see much fainter meteors.<\/p>\n

Wrap up warm with good thermals and a warm, waterproof coat.<\/p>\n

Keep your feet warm, as the cold can really creep up through the ground even on a warm summer night if you\u2019re standing still for long periods.<\/p>\n

Lie back to view the stars, so that you can see a large swathe of sky without straining your neck.<\/span><\/p>\n

A garden lounger is a great viewing platform. Look for Perseid meteors at an altitude around 60\u02da in any direction.<\/p>\n

\""Lying\"<\/div>
Lying or reclining is a great way to observe meteor showers without getting cramp in your neck. Here, meteor watchers await the Perseid peak of 12 August 2018 at the Rocky Mountain National Park in the US. Credit: STAN HONDA \/ AFP via Getty Images.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

While longest trails are seen 40\u2013140\u02da from the radiant, towards the radiant expect short trails.<\/p>\n

A look in the opposite direction to the radiant <\/span>will reveal trails that appear short and converge to a point called the anti-radiant. <\/span><\/p>\n

Perseid displays often exhibit bright events, many of which show what appears to be an after image of the trail, which is a weakly glowing column of ionised gas.<\/p>\n

This \u2018meteor train\u2019 fades from view as the energy in the ionised atoms is given up. High altitude winds may also affect the train, distorting its shape.<\/p>\n

\""Perseid\"<\/div>
Perseid over Southern Milky Way by Scott, Scottish Borders, UK. Equipment: Canon 5D MK III, Samyang 24mm.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

How many Perseids will we see?<\/strong><\/h1>\n

If you read some of the media coverage of meteor showers like the Perseids, you might think that, at their peak, these <\/span>events see a near-constant rain of bright shooting stars blazing across the sky.<\/p>\n

Real meteor showers \u2013 while captivating and absolutely worth observing \u2013 are rarely like this.<\/p>\n

One number that\u2019s often mentioned is the Zenithal Hourly Rate, or ZHR. This is a theoretical number of meteors that would be visible, <\/span>on average, over an hour with the radiant of the shower at the zenith and the viewing occurring under perfect sky conditions.<\/p>\n

\""Perseids\"<\/div>
Perseid Meteor Shower Aug 11-12 2015 by Michael Rosinski, Howell, Michigan, USA. Equipment: Canon 70D, UWA 11-16mm lens<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

The ZHR isn\u2019t a good indicator of how many meteors you can expect to see every hour, however; that figure will be lower because of things like light pollution<\/a> and <\/span>the typically lower radiant at the observing time.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible to roughly estimate how many Perseids you might spot, on average, near the peak of the shower.<\/p>\n

Such a calculation suggests that while observing at around 3am (BST) on the night of the peak, a group of observers at a suburban site \u2013 where the naked-eye limiting magnitude <\/span>is, say, +5 \u2013 could potentially see a rate of about 25 Perseids an hour or so.<\/p>\n

\""Perseid\"<\/div>
Perseid Meteor by Luke Hayes, Essex, UK. Equipment: Digital camera<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

What is a meteor?<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Meteors begin their lives out in the depths of space as tiny grains of dust, known as \u2018meteoroids\u2019.<\/p>\n

If any of these flecks of interplanetary material are unfortunate enough to hit Earth as they travel around the Sun, they collide with our atmosphere at many kilometres per second and get vaporised in the process.<\/span><\/p>\n

The narrow ribbon of light that occurs when this happens is the meteor \u2013 what many call a \u2018shooting star\u2019 \u2013 and they\u2019re happening all the time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\""Perseid\"<\/div>
Perseid streaks as Jupiter is Swallowed, by Simon Rowland, Las Canadas, Tenerife. Equipment: Canon 1100D, Samyang 14mm.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

On a clear night if you look up at the stars for, say, half an hour or so, it\u2019s highly likely that you\u2019ll see a meteor at some point \u2013 especially from an observing site with dark skies.<\/p>\n

Many meteors that you see like this will be what\u2019s known as \u2018sporadic\u2019 meteors. Essentially that means that they are random in nature and can appear anywhere in the sky, going in any direction.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s different with the Perseid meteor shower is that Perseids, while they can materialise anywhere against the backdrop of stars, all appear to streak from a fairly-well defined point on the sky \u2013 astronomers call it the \u2018radiant\u2019.<\/p>\n

\""Perseid\"<\/div>
Perseid Meteor by David Grace, Cardigan, UK. Equipment: Canon 60D, Sigma Wide Angle lens, Tripod.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

This behaviour is, in fact, an optical illusion. The meteors are actually travelling on broadly parallel paths, as the meteoroids that create them plough into the top of Earth\u2019s atmosphere.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s merely a trick of perspective that makes them look like they\u2019re zooming across the sky from the radiant point.<\/p>\n

While \u2018normal\u2019 sporadic meteors originate from meteoroids scattered in a fairly random way between the planets, meteors in meteor showers like the Perseids occur when Earth passes through a stream of dusty material left by a comet or asteroid as it has journeyed around the Sun.<\/p>\n

In the case of the Perseids, that\u2019s a cloud of dust left by Comet 109P\/Swift-Tuttle.<\/p>\n

Every year Earth\u2019s orbit brings our planet into a position where its path intersects with that trail.We sail through the stream of dusty particles over the course of a few weeks and the result is the Perseid meteor shower.<\/p>\n

\""A\"<\/div>
A Perseid Meteor by John Short, Dumfries, UK. Equipment: Sony A7s, Samyang 12mm fisheye<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Will we see fireballs?<\/strong><\/h1>\n

The Perseids themselves can occasionally put on an impressive show of fireballs. These are brighter meteors that can light up the sky with a bright turquoise flash and are really quite thrilling to witness.<\/p>\n

Some of the brighter ones may leave what is known as a \u2018persistent train\u2019, which is a line of superheated air and meteor \u2018smoke\u2019 that appears to glow for a few seconds, and in some cases longer, after the shooting star itself has flashed across the sky.<\/p>\n

How to photograph the Perseid meteor shower<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\""The\"<\/div>
The short and warm nights of mid August are ideal conditions for photographing the Perseids. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Photographing meteors isn\u2019t hard, but the tricky bit is having your camera pointing in the correct direction with the shutter open as a bright trail appears. Being able to optimise the probability of this happening is the key skill in meteor photography.<\/p>\n

A manual camera works best for meteors: something like a DSLR or a mirrorless or a bridge camera. A wide lens works best but there are limitations to weigh up.<\/span><\/p>\n

For help with settings and technical advice, read our guide on how to use a DSLR camera<\/a>. Or discover our pick of the best astrophotography cameras<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Your chances of capturing a trail increase with sky coverage, so a fisheye lens covering the entire sky might sound like a good bet, but unfortunately most trails will be puny and difficult to see.<\/span><\/p>\n

As you increase focal length the field of view narrows, reducing the probability of capturing a trail because some will occur outside the frame area.<\/span><\/p>\n

But, if you are lucky and capture a trail using a longer focal length lens, it will invariably have more presence than a fisheye would deliver.<\/span><\/p>\n

\""How\"<\/div>
A DSLR camera works well for photographing meteor showers. Credit: Gajus \/ iStock \/ Getty Images Plus<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

The balance between area covered and meteor trail appearance is reached around the 14\u201320mm mark, although this isn\u2019t written in stone.<\/span><\/p>\n

A fast lens is also preferable to a slow one. Setting the lens fully open allows the maximum light in, but can also introduce distortions in star shapes towards the edge of field.<\/p>\n

A common mistake for those more used to deep-sky astrophotography<\/a> attempting meteor trails is to set the sensitivity high, look at a test result on the back of the camera and reject the ISO setting because the image quality looks poor.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is because deep-sky images benefit from mid to low ISO values to maintain tonal quality and keep noise to a manageable level. <\/span><\/p>\n

But meteor trails don\u2019t last long, typically less than a second, and to capture them the deep-sky imaging philosophy needs to be put on hold and the camera ISO ramped up for high sensitivity. <\/span><\/p>\n

Meteor photography is like celestial fishing, you never know what you\u2019re going to catch!<\/p>\n