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The Best Meteor Shower of the Year Is Here. Here’s How to Watch It.

News Astronomy
by Olivia Harden Jul 19, 2021

The best meteor shower of the year is here, NASA says. The Perseid meteor shower has already started bracing the sky from July 17 and will be here until August 24, 2021. The best time to view the shower, though, is between August 11 and August 12, where there could be up to 100 visible meteors per hour, according to NPR.

The annual meteor shower is caused by the 109PSwift-Tuttle comet that is in a 133-year orbit around the sun before reaching beyond Neptune, leaving debris behind, according to Popular Science.

If you want to see the gorgeous meteors shoot across the sky, it’s best to find a spot with next to no light pollution (these 10 US parks are some of the best for stargazing and you can’t go wrong with these dark sky destinations). The best time for shower viewing is 9 PM in the Northern Hemisphere or midnight in the Southern Hemisphere, until dawn, according to Smithsonian Magazine. Get ready for colorful shooting stars. The good news is, if for some reason you can’t make the shower’s season, there’s plenty of astronomical events coming up. And, of course, there’s always next year.

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