https://youtu.be/ALeqrq28v1c
The Perseid meteor shower of 2020 peaks tonight! Here's how to watch live.
By Chelsea Gohd
Perseids 2020
Snap an amazing 2020 Perseids meteor shower photo? Let us know! Send images and comments to spacephotos@space.com.
The Perseids are back! This week, you can catch the 2020 Perseid meteor shower, a favorite of many skywatchers, as it peaks thanks to four different webcasts over the next two days from the Virtual Telescope Project, NASA, Lowell Observatory and the online astronomy learning platform Slooh.
The Perseids meteor shower appears when Earth passes through the rubble left by Comet Swift-Tuttle and peaks this week in the early morning hours on Wednesday (Aug. 12), according to NASA. But you should still be able to enjoy great views of the Perseids on Aug. 11 and Aug. 13 as well if you can find your way to some dark skies. The bright meteor shower has an impressive average rate of between 50 and 75 meteors per hour; in outburst years, it can produce upwards of 150 to 200 meteors per hour.
So how can you catch a glimpse of the Perseids? Meteor showers are best viewed with the naked eye, Slooh said in an email statement. However, bright moonlight from the waning last-quarter moon this year could interfere with catching glimpse of the spectacle.
Luckily, the Lowell Observatory, NASA, Slooh and the Virtual Telescope Project will all be sharing webcasts of the spectacle so, one way or another, you'll be able to spot some meteors. Read on for our Perseids webcast guide for 2020.
https://youtu.be/yrMMxcW2nF0
https://youtu.be/BNpzgkW3d8k
Aug. 12 at 7 pm ET: Slooh webcast
This NASA sky map shows where to look to spot the Perseid meteor shower of 2020, which peaks before dawn on Aug. 12, 2020. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)During a special free, public party starting at 7 p.m. EDT (2300 GMT) on Aug. 12, Slooh will be broadcasting live streams of the meteors using special low-light video cameras. Views will come from the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands and the Sharjah Academy for Astronomy in the United Arab Emirates, among other institutions.
Slooh's live webcast will available live here at Space.com, courtesy of Slooh, on Slooh's Facebook, Twitter and Youtube channels or at Slooh's website if you are a paying member. Slooh members will also be able to ask Slooh's experts questions live over Zoom during the broadcast.
"The Perseids are usually the most popular meteor shower of the year. Slooh members gather together from around the globe to watch the live feeds in awe and wonder as fragments of Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle vaporize spectacularly as they enter Earth's atmosphere traveling at an astonishing 133,200 mph (60 kilometers per second)!" Slooh astronomer Paul Cox said in the statement.
Editor's note: If you snap an amazing photo of the 2020 Perseids meteor shower and would like to share them for a story or photo gallery, send images and comments to spacephotos@space.com!
Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@space.com or follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
MORE HERE: https://www.space.com/perseid-meteor-shower-2020-webcasts.html?utm_source=Selligent&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=9155&utm_content=SDC_Newsletter+&utm_term=3300544&m_i=fM1e7o_0Qs1ZGJIpxLlZAhwywG2KH139usfPgwgbqx5KmytHxKIeXwIzMVEbSUVC4DpAfnfV84FIvOWN5OgN7oxZEeNNchrXnNeSprvfff
Thanks to: https://www.space.com