Perseid meteor. (Submitted Photo/Tim Yaworski)

By Jaryn Vecchio

Annual Occurrence

Perseid meteor shower back again to light up night sky

Aug 5, 2023 | 6:00 AM

It’s that time of year again as the Perseid meteor shower will be lighting up the night sky for the next couple of weeks.

This annual occurrence has been happening for over 30 years after Comet Swift–Tuttle passed by the earth back in 1992.

Tim Yaworski, a national member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, explained it left behind a gravel road of sorts that the planet passes through every year around the same time.

“When the earth goes through that space gravel road, those bits of debris collide with the earth’s atmosphere and burn up and it’s that burning that causes that flash of light.”

What’s even more astounding is the actual size of the meteors. According to Yaworski, they are no bigger than a grain of sand.

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“Imagine just a grain of sand creating something that we can see hundreds of kilometres down, it gives you an idea of just how much heat is generated when it makes that collision,” Yaworski said.

The meteor shower is set to peak in the evenings of August 11^th and August 12^th. Depending on the amount of light coming from the moon and where people choose to watch, they should be able to see between 100 and 120 meteors an hour. That’s why Yaworski is recommending people go to a rural area to view it.

“Last year we had a full moon which pretty much washed out most of the meteors, but this year we’ll only have a 15 per cent overall of the moon and it’s only going to be rising around one o’clock in the morning.”

Meanwhile, people don’t need a telescope to see the meteors as they’ll be large enough to view with the naked eye.

Yaworski believes viewing the meteor shower could be a great family outing since young kids don’t need to go to bed early because of school.

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Jaryn.Vecchio@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow