The annual Perseid meteor shower is still visible in the night sky throughout Colorado, even though the peak viewing period passed early this morning, according to an astronomy expert at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Coloradans can expect a “pretty good” meteor show because the moon is not full this year, and it will set shortly after midnight today and tomorrow, leaving a dark sky during meteor viewing, according to Doug Duncan, director of CU-Boulder’s Fiske Planetarium.
“Having the moon set creates a darker sky, which makes a big difference in how many meteors you see,” said Duncan.
People can expect to see 50 or more meteors, or shooting stars, an hour from dark mountain or plains locations, while in cities and suburbs viewers can expect to see a few meteors per hour, according to Duncan.
Get away from city lights, allow your eyes to adjust and look toward the northeast.
Meteor showers occur when the Earth crosses the path of a comet orbiting the sun, in this case the Comet Swift-Tuttle. When the comet gets close to the sun, parts of it melt and break off, creating millions of chunks of ice and dust that make up its tail. These chunks, many as small as a grain of rice, burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere making streaks of light called shooting stars.
“Meteorites are fascinating because they give us a sample of space farther out than astronauts have been able to go,” said Duncan. “Every meteorite ever studied dates back to the very beginning of the solar system, 4.5 billion years ago.”
The Perseid meteor shower is named for the Perseus constellation, from which the meteors appear to radiate.
