Get ready, the summer sky is about to put on its own light show.

Stargazers are all excited about the Perseid Meteor Shower which is set to be at its' peak on August 13. In-the-sky.org reports that the annual event will begin on July 23 with nightly performances until August 20th.

So exactly what's going on up there? Astronomy geeks will tell you that comets and asteroids cruise through the Milky Way, kinda like a teenager from the 50's, and leave streams of pebbles and other galaxy stuff in their wake. When we (and by "we" I mean Earth) pass through these streams, that's when these so-called shooting stars are visible.

From Danbury, the radiant of the shower will appear 29° above your north-eastern horizon at midnight. This means you are likely to see only around 39 meteors per hour, since the radiant will be low in the sky, reducing the chance of seeing meteors. The radiant of the Perseid meteor shower is at around right ascension 03h00m, declination 58°N.

- Dominic Ford, Editor of In-The-Sky.org

Hahahaha, what? Ford goes on to explain in terms that we stargazers who merely have an app on our phones can understand. Since the moon will be in the "Waxing Crescent" phase on August 13th, it won't outshine the meteor shower that night. Don't look directly at the "radiant", set your sights at about 35 degrees away from it.

Since there will be about 39 chances an hour to wish on a shooting star on August 13th, here's my advice:

  • Go someplace really dark, away from city lights
  • Look up

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