Topline:
It’s that time of year when the Earth passes through the debris field left by Comet Swift-Tuttle, causing what’s known as the Perseid meteor shower.
Best times to watch: The Perseids are technically active now, but experts say the peak of the meteor activity will come the night of Aug. 12 and morning of Aug. 13.
Keep reading ... for advice on where to view the meteor shower in SoCal.
It’s that time of year when the Earth passes through the debris field left by Comet Swift-Tuttle, causing what’s known as the Perseid meteor shower.
The Perseids are technically active now, but experts say the peak of the meteor activity will come the night of Aug. 12 and morning of Aug. 13.
Viewing this year will be especially good because the moon will only be illuminated about 10%, making the night sky darker.
If you want to catch the shooting star spectacular, the best time is usually between midnight and pre-dawn, as long as the weather cooperates.
“In general, the rule is to try to and get away from the biggest cities or any natural or artificial light sources,” Dr. Cameron Hummels, the director of astrophysics outreach at Caltech, told LAist.
If you are at a good dark sky site, Hummels said at the peak of the shower, it could be possible to see one shooting star per minute.
“Just chill out for half-an-hour under the sky and see a few dozen meteors is a pretty special opportunity,” Hummels said.
Hummels pointed out that you really don’t need any telescopes or special equipment to enjoy meteor showers, just a reclining chair or blanket that allows for looking up.
Some good spots for viewing are Mt. Pinos in the Los Padres National Forest — about an hour and a half outside Los Angeles — and Joshua Tree National Park. Just be sure to check fire conditions before planning a trip.
And here’s a list of places where you can experience some of the darkest skies in California.
You can check out a map that shows areas with less light pollution here.
If you can’t make it this month, Hummels said the Geminids meteor shower in mid-December will arguably be even more spectacular, with probably some 150 meteors per hour.
Dr. Edwin Krupp, director of the Griffith Observatory, told LAist what you’re really seeing when you catch what are commonly known as shooting stars: “These are really tiny particles that are heated to incandescence because they’re traveling so fast, roughly 130,000 miles an hour, when they hit the Earth’s atmosphere.”
Here's what the Griffith Observatory has to say about the history of the Perseids:
Perseid meteors are named for the constellation Perseus, the hero of the ancient Greek legend of Andromeda. Perseids can appear anywhere in the sky but seem to stream from the direction of Perseus, which is in the northeastern sky during most of the night.
The meteors are actually rice-grain- to popcorn-sized bits of comet dust, shed every 130 years from comet Swift-Tuttle (109P) when it passes by the Sun, as it last did in 1992. Over thousands of years, the particles spread out fairly evenly around the comet’s orbit and become visible when Earth crosses the comet’s orbit and the particles streak through our upper atmosphere at 37 miles per second. At such a high velocity, friction with our atmosphere causes the tiny particles to put on a spectacular show but destroys them at an altitude of 50 miles or more.
Studying meteor showers: Dr. Hummels said the comets and asteroids that left behind these trails of debris are generally thought to have formed with the birth of the solar system.
“This is directly tapping into the composition of what formed the sun, what formed all of the planets, but it hasn't been processed in the same way that things here on the surface of the earth [have],” Hummels said.
Looking at the light that’s created by the debris when they burn up in the atmosphere can tell scientists a lot.
If you’re looking to learn more, Caltech hosts a range of astronomy meetups and science talks.