The Perseid meteor shower will peak Wednesday evening into Thursday as a new moon emerges, meaning extra-dark skies will make for optimal viewing of what NASA has called the year’s best meteor shower. The celestial event has the potential to produce between 50 and 100 shooting stars in an hour.
The Perseids come with fast, bright meteors that can leave long “wakes” of light and color behind them, according to NASA. The shower occurs in warm summer nighttime weather. The Perseids also feature fireballs, which are bigger explosions of light and color that come from larger particles of cometary material and linger longer than an average meteor streak, according to the space agency.
Michigan has six dark sky state parks, three international dark sky parks and one international dark sky sanctuary for nighttime stargazing. Lake Hudson Recreation Area in Lenawee County, Negwegon State Park in Alcona County, Port Crescent State Park in Huron County, Rockport Recreation Area and Thompson’s Harbor State Park in Presque Isle County and Wilderness State Park in Emmet County are state-designated dark sky parks.
DarkSky International has designated three globally recognized dark sky parks in Michigan: Headlands Dark Sky Park in Emmet County, Keweenaw Dark Sky Park in Keweenaw County and Dr. T.K. Lawless Park in Cass County.
Beaver Island State Wildlife Research Area is an international dark sky sanctuary.
The best view of the Perseids happen during the hours before dawn, NASA said. The shower’s meteors come from Comet Swift-Tuttle, and the celestial event happens every year when the Earth passes through a stream of dust left behind by the comet. The comet dust particles burn up as streaks of light, according to NASA.
The Perseids shower can be seen by looking to the northeast and watching for the constellation Perseus on the horizon, where the meteors originate from. NASA recommends viewers give their eyes 30 minutes to the darkness once they go outside to view the shower.
jcardi@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Perseid meteor shower will peak Wednesday night
Reporting by Julia Cardi, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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By Julia Cardi, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
