Eyes To The Skies! Tonight's The Night To See The Perseids Meteor Shower
ANN ARBOR (WWJ) - It's been an annual event in the sky for over 2,000 years, and Wednesday night will be your best chance to see the annual Perseids meteor shower.
Charlie Nealson, president of the "University Lowbrow Astronomers" club in Ann Arbor, says a bright, full moon may diminish the even just a bit— but the best time to see the show will be after midnight or 1 a.m.
"Despite the full moon it is supposed to be clear tonight, so I would advise anybody to find the darkest location they can — if they can get out tonight — and generally look toward either the darkest part of your sky or toward the east because that's where the radiant part will be, where they seem to be coming from," Nealson told WWJ Newsradio 950.
Why's midnight the perfect time?
"The reason for that is the earth is spinning at about that time and it turns into the direction that you're headed into the meteor stream; so the numbers tend to go up," Nealson explained.
The Perseids meteor shower occurs each year in early August as the Earth passes through the orbit of the Swift-Tuttle comet.