Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks Thursday In PA: What To Know

PENNSYLVANIA — The Perseid meteor shower will come to its brilliant zenith in Pennsylvania this week, capping off a summer of illuminating shows building up to its peak.

While the peak is set for late Thursday night and early Friday morning, the Perseids have been a fixture in the sky since July. They are predicted to gradually decline through the beginning of September.

Weather conditions should comply with viewing in most of Pennsylvania. Eastern Pennsylvania will be partly cloudly, according to the National Weather Services, with period of clarity that should allow viewing.

Things might be a bit more difficult in the greater Pittsburgh area, where cloudy skies are predicted until after dawn Friday morning, forecasters say.

The Perseids, first discovered in 1862, create about 50 to 100 meteors an hour when they're at their peak. The shower is produced by the comet 109/P Swift-Tuttle.

The best weather conditions for watching the Perseids will likely be across much of the West Coast, the central Plains, and around the Great Lakes, according to AccuWeather. Breaks in the clouds may allow people across the Plains, Great Lakes and mid-Atlantic to catch a glimpse of the starry spectacle.

Meanwhile, skywatchers across the Intermountain West, Southeast and the Upper Midwest hoping to witness a shooting star or two might step outside and see only clouds, according to AccuWeather.

Weather aside, the Perseids will have other competition this year. On Aug. 11, the third and final supermoon of 2022 will illuminate the sky, shining all night long amid the peak.

“Sadly, this year’s Perseids peak will see the worst possible circumstances for spotters,” NASA astronomer Bill Cooke said in an agency blog post. “Most of us in North America normally see 50 or 60 meteors per hour, but this year, during the normal peak, the full moon will reduce that to 10-20 per hour at best.”

While it might not be the best year for a memorable trip to see the Perseids, consider watching the skies just before dawn. If that’s not possible, NASA suggests focusing on the darkest spots in the sky where the moon is not visible.

The Perseids are known for their fireballs, which are “larger explosions of light and color that can persist longer than an average meteor streak,” NASA said, explaining, “This is due to the fact that fireballs originate from larger particles of cometary material.”

The shower is called the Perseids because its radiant point is near the prominent constellation of Perseus the hero.