The Perseid Meteor shower actually starts each year in July as the earth begins to move through the meteor stream, with tonight (August 11) & Wednesday morning (August 12) being the peak of activity in the sky.
Tonight will mark the peak of the first meteor shower of what astronomers, both professional & amateur, refer to as meteor season. Tonight/tomorrow morning, the Earth will pass through the thickest stretch of debris left by comets Marsden & Kracht, which leads to the Delta Aquarid meteor shower.
Regrettably, the forecast for tonight is looking dodgy, to say the least. The lovely news is that Delta Aquarids can be seen over a week before or after tonight.
The best time to view the meteor shower if you’re in the United States is Wednesday morning at 1:00 a.m. EST & at 5:30 a.m. EST. At the peak, you’ll see between 50 to 150 meteors an hour in the night sky, although you will notice meteors at other times in the coursework of the night. Best viewing is away from city lights, & obviously cloud cover.
If you’re in the Southern hemisphere, parts of the meteor shower may be viewable depending on where you’re located, although lots of in the far south will miss out as most of the activity is over the horizon.
