The Perseid meteor shower is intensifying as Earth moves deeper into the debris stream of parent comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. International observers are reporting as many as 50 Perseids per hour from dark sky sites, a rate which could double on August 12-13 when the shower peaks. The best time to look is during the dark hours between local midnight and sunrise.
"We have recorded dozens of Perseid fireballs in the past few nights," says Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "And we haven't even reached the peak...."
Cooke has plotted the orbits of all the recent Perseid fireballs, color-coded green in this diagram of the inner solar system:
"We have recorded dozens of Perseid fireballs in the past few nights," says Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "And we haven't even reached the peak...."
Cooke has plotted the orbits of all the recent Perseid fireballs, color-coded green in this diagram of the inner solar system:
The purple orbit traces the path of the parent comet, 109P/Swift-Tuttle. It nicely matches the orbits of the Perseids. Earth is marked by a blue dot where all the curves intersect. This diagram is going to get busier in the nights ahead, so stay tuned.
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