It has been a very excellent summer season for stargazers. Initial, we have been taken care of to a very clear view of Comet Neowise, and now a meteor shower is lighting up our night time skies.

The Perseid meteor shower will come about just about every summer. It will get its title due to the fact the meteors feel to originate from the constellation of Perseus.

The shower can be stunning, and you do not need binoculars or a telescope to see it.

Here is almost everything you need to know about how to catch a glimpse…

What is the Perseid meteor shower?

Meteors are produced by comets breaking up when they get near to the sun. Some of that particles finishes up in the Earth’s path about the solar, and hits our atmosphere at speeds up to 45 miles for each next.

For the reason that they are travelling so quick, the air in entrance of the meteor is squashed and heated to countless numbers of degrees. Lesser meteors vaporise, leaving driving a bright path of light-weight. More substantial meteors can explode as fireballs.

This shower appears to emanate from the constellation of Perseus, who was the Greek hero who beheaded Medusa.

When are the meteors most seen in the United kingdom?

The meteor shower is lively in between 17 July and 24 August, but reaches its peak on 12 August – that evening is when the most meteors will be obvious.

On this evening you will be in a position to see as a lot of as 100 for each hour.

The greatest time to see it is when the sky is darkest, so in between midnight and the incredibly early several hours of the morning.

However, in the British isles it is basically achievable to see it as soon as the sun sets – so extensive as you are in an place with incredibly little light air pollution.

Recommendations for acquiring the finest look at

Meteors can look everywhere in the sky, so attempt to come across somewhere with the broadest see of the sky doable – ideally an location with no tall properties and trees, the place you can see the bordering horizon. You will require it to be a very clear evening.

Light air pollution can also be an situation, so the even further into the countryside you are, the superior. If you are confined to an region with road lights, going through absent from them can aid.

You want to give your eyes at least 15 minutes to change to the darkness, as this will support you see the fainter meteors. This suggests you must not be wanting at your cellphone.