Perseids Meteor Showers Set To Illuminate LI Skies Wednesday Night: What To Know, Where To Watch

LONG ISLAND, NY — Long Islanders will soon be looking to the skies: The highly anticipated Perseids meteor showers are expect to reach peak viewing on Wednesday, August 12, through the predawn hours of Thursday, August 13.

According to Space.com, the Perseid meteor is active from July 17 through August 24, with "a strong maximum overnight on August 12 to 13, with sightings of 50 or more "shooting stars" per hour possible.

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Also according to Space.com: "The Perseids officially build gradually over several weeks as Earth slowly enters the broad debris stream left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle. It was last in the inner solar system in 1992 and will return in 2126."

But whether or not the Perseid meteor showers will be visible remains to be seen: According to the National Weather Service, skies late Wednesday night should be mostly clear; however, some clouds could possibly obscure the view, the NWS said. There is a chance of 30 to 40 percent cloud coverage, the NWS said.

"There should be some opportunity to see them, especially at the beginning and toward the end of the event," Matthew Wunsch, meteorologist at the NWS office in Upton, said.

According to NASA.gov, the Perseids, which peaks in mid-August," is considered the best meteor shower of the year. With swift and bright meteors, Perseids frequently leave long 'wakes' of light and color behind them as they streak through Earth's atmosphere."

The Perseids are one of the most plentiful showers, with about 50 to 100 meteors seen per hour, NASA said.

They occur with warm summer nighttime weather allowing sky watchers to comfortably view them.

Perseids are also known for their fireballs, NASA said.

Fireballs are larger explosions of light and color that can persist longer than an average meteor streak, NASA said. This is due to the fact that fireballs originate from larger particles of cometary material. Fireballs are also brighter.

When to watch

The Perseids are best viewed in the Northern Hemisphere during the pre-dawn hours, though at times it is possible to view meteors from this shower as early as 10 p.m., NASA said.

Where do meteors come from?

Meteors come from leftover comet particles and bits from broken asteroids, NASA said.

When comets come around the sun, they leave a dusty trail behind them. Every year Earth passes through these debris trails, which allows the bits to collide with our atmosphere and disintegrate to create fiery and colorful streaks in the sky.

The comet

The pieces of space debris that interact with our atmosphere to create the Perseids originate from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, NASA said.

Swift-Tuttle takes 133 years to orbit the Sun once. It was Giovanni Schiaparelli who realized in 1865 that this comet was the source of the Perseids. Comet Swift-Tuttle last visited the inner solar system in 1992, NASA said.