Perseid meteor shower will be biggest in decades. Here's how and where to see it around LA

If you're in a spot devoid of city lights and you look into the sky Thursday night you could catch the biggest meteor shower in decades. And it's thanks to Jupiter.

The Perseid meteor shower comes along annually. The meteors are chunks of ice and rock that have flown off the back of the Swift-Tuttle comet which orbits our sun every 133 years and last passed through in 1992 (though the meteors we'll see this week were left behind in 1862).

As the Earth orbits through the debris field, our gravity sucks the meteors into the atmosphere at 132,000 miles per hour. Thankfully, they burn up 60 miles above the planets surface, said William Cooke with NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office. Because of how the chunks burn up in the atmosphere we get a light show of shooting stars, or a meteor shower.

But this year's going to be much more intense than in years past as the number of shooting stars is expected to be more than double.

Keep up with LAist.

If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.

Subscribe

For that you can thank Jupiter which Cooke calls the solar system's "gravitational bully."

"Every year the Perseids puts on a decent show, about 80 to 100 meteors per hour," he said. "But this year, Jupiter’s gravity has tugged some of the debris from comet Swift-Tuttle, which caused the Perseids, closer to Earth’s orbit. And as a result we’ll be running through more junk and that’s going to lead to a doubling of the rates this year. So you could see 160 to 200 Perseids per hour on the night of August 11th, the morning of August 12."

The clump of material you'll see burn up in the night sky was released from Swift-Tuttle back in 1862. It just took a while for Earth's orbit and it to collide. (The meteor shower is called the Perseids because they appear to emanate from the constellation Perseus.)

This meteor shower promises to be epic and Cooke thinks that we might not see another one of this strength until 2027.

Here are some tips on where and how to get the best Perseids experience.

Tips for viewing

To get the best view  NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory suggests getting as far away from urban lights and pollution as possible. A clear view of the night sky is key.

"Out in the desert would be great, a lot of people go up Angeles Crest Highway to get above most of the pollution," said JPL senior research scientist Donald Yeomans. "Anywhere that is dark and free of artificial lighting would be great."

Wherever you decide to watch — whether at a campsite or on your porch — look for the darkest spot in the sky. "Search for the darkest patch of sky you can find, as meteors can appear anywhere overhead," JPL says.

JPL also suggests you should forget telescopes and binoculars. "Using either reduces the amount of sky you can see at one time, lowering the odds that you'll see anything but darkness," according to the lab.

Yeomans suggests to set aside enough time to let your eyes get used to the dark. "Get out there and let 20 minutes elapse so that your eyes can become dark adapted, so they can be more sensitive in the dark," Yeomans said. 

Tips for photographing

Put down that iPhone. It won't likely be able to catch a good image of the meteors. Still, if you're in a dark place and have DSLR camera at the ready, you get some pretty great shots of the shower.

We have a step by step on taking great images of the event here. 

So where's the best place to watch?

Try the following:

• Joshua Tree
   
• Borrego Springs
   
• Mt. Baldy
   

• Angeles Crest Highway

• Amboy Crater in San Bernardino County

• The Mojave National Preserve's southern half

• NOT the Griffith Observatory. The Observatory is closed, but it's surrounded by a lot of urban light, so it wouldn't be a great spot for viewing anyway. Spots, including Vasquez Rocks and the Upper Las Virgenes Open Space Preserve will be closed.

How about some music?

For past Perseids, we have suggested a little music to set the mood. Here's a list of songs put together by the BBC that listeners said were their favorite for stargazing: