By Vanita Srivastava | Hindustan Times – Sun 11 Aug, 2013
New Delhi, Aug. 11 -- Skygazers - get ready to watch one of the most spectacular meteor shower of the year - Perseid meteor shower which started in mid-July will peak from the midnight of August 12 with an average of around 100 shooting stars per hour.
Every year the Earth passes through the debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle forming the Perseids meteor shower.
The Perseids meteor shower is active every year from around mid July to late August, but for most of this period only a few meteors an hour are visible.
According to the International Meteorological Organisation (IMO), the meteor shower will peak on the intervening night of August 12 and August 13.
The peak activity will be from 11:45 pm IST on August 12 to 2:15 am IST on August 13. Even after its peak visibility, the meteor shower will continue till August 24.
" Although the shower will peak between Monday-Tuesday, the visibility will depend on sky conditions and the location of the place. This year will be a good show as the Moon sets early, so dark skies will prevail. In the absence of the moon, the falling stars will be more illuminant and visible. Next year this may not happen and they will not be as visible," N Sri Raghunandan Kumar secretary Planetary Society of India told HT.
Kumar said that that no telescopes or binoculars were required for the viewing.
"All one has to do is to look towards the north east direction to observe the constellation called Perseus from midnight to dawn. The best time is to start observing at 1 am when the constellation is sufficiently above the horizon."
Published by HT Syndication with permission from Hindustan Times.
Source:
http://in.news.yahoo.com/meteor-shower-illuminate-sky-tonight-183000991.html