2015 Perseid meteor shower to peak on August 11-13
This year’s Perseid meteor shower is set to peak in the very early morning hours of August 11 to 13. Unlike 2014, the Perseid meteor shower will not have a “Super Moon” as competition.
In the skies over Bulgaria, the new moon will be on August 14, meaning that the preceding days of the peak will have a waning crescent moon in the night sky.
Every year in August, the Perseid meteor shower makes an impressive lights show in the skies over the northern hemisphere.
With very fast and bright meteors, Perseids frequently leave long “wakes” of light and colour behind them as they streak through the Earth’s atmosphere. The Perseids are one of the most plentiful showers (50-100 meteors seen each hour) and occurs with warm summer nighttime weather, allowing sky watchers to easily view the shower.
The Perseids have been observed for at least two millennia and are bits of dust and ice trailing the comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the sun once every 133 years, according to NASA. Their name derives from the fact that they appear to radiate from the constellation Perseus.
Unlike last year, when a full moon interfered with the show, this year the waning crescent moon will have a lesser impact. At their highest frequency, the Perseids will hit Earth’s atmosphere at more than 100 an hour, although not all will leave light trails in the night sky.
Meanwhile, Super Moon fans will have their latest chance to see one over Bulgarian skies, with the next occurring on September 28 2015 at 6.50am.
(Photo of Perseid meteor as seen from the International Space Station by NASA)
