Perseids 2020
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The Perseids are back! This week you can catch the Perseid of 2020 meteor shower, a favorite of many skywatchers, as it peaks thanks to four different webcasts over the next two days of the Virtual Telescope Project, NASA, Lowell Observatory and the online astronomical learning platform Slooh.
The Perseids meteor shower appears as Earth passes through the pun passed by Comet Swift-Tuttle and peaks this week in the early morning on Wednesday (August 12), according to NASA. But you might still be able to enjoy great views of the Perseids on August 11 and 13, if you can find your way to some dark skies. The light meteor shower has an impressive average rate of between 50 and 75 meteors per hour; in eruption years it can produce upwards of 150 to 200 meteors per hour.
So how can you get a glimpse of the Perseids? Meteor showers are best viewed with the naked eye, Slooh said in an email. However, bright moonlight from the declining last quarter month this year could interfere with capturing glimpses of the spectacle.
Fortunately, the Lowell Observatory, NASA, Slooh, and the Virtual Telescope Project will all share webcasts of the spectacle, so you can somehow track down some meteors. Read on for our Perseids webcast guide for 2020.
Related: Perseid meteor shower 2020: When, where & how to see it
August 11 at 6 pm ET: Virtual Telescope Project
The Virtual Telescope Project will be hosting a live event for Perseids viewing starts at 6 a.m. EDT (2200 GMT) on August 11th. The project offers online views through a number of robotic telescopes, coordinated by the Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory in Italy and managed by astronomer Gianluca Masi.
The Virtual Telescope Project will host its live broadcast on his website en on YouTube.
Aug 1 At 9 p.m. ET: NASA
NASA will also livestream the meteors. The agency will start their free stream showing the Perseids meteor shower on NASA TV at 9 a.m. EDT on August 11 (0100 GMT on August 12).
You can watch the NASA broadcast live over here on NASA TV.
August 12 at 12 pm ET: Lowell Observatory webcast
Lowell Observatory in Arizona is hosting a free, interactive livestream broadcast of the Perseids meteor shower begins at 12 noon EDT (0400 GMT) August 12th.
Observatory astronomer Nick Moskovitz and research assistant Megan Gialluca will host the livestream, using the observatory’s All-Sky camera at the observatory’s Lowell Discovery Telescope to spot meteors while discussing the history and science behind the Perseids.
Watch the live stream from Lowell Observatory over here.
August 12 at 7pm ET: Slooh webcast
During a special free, public party starting at 7 a.m. EDT (2300 GMT) on August 12, Slooh will broadcast live streams from the meteors with special low-light video cameras. Seen will come from the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands and the Sharjah Academy of Astronomy in the United Arab Emirates, among other institutions.
Slooh’s live webcast will be available live here at Space.com, with ease from Slooh, on Slooh’s Facebook, Twitter and Youtube channels or on the Slooh website if you are a paying member. Slooh members will also be able to ask Slooh’s experts questions about Zoom via the broadcast.
“The Perseids are usually the most popular meteor shower of the year. Slooh members gather from all over the world to watch the live feeds in awe and marvel as fragments of Comet 109P / Swift-Tuttle spectacularly evaporate as they enter Earthly atmosphere travel at a staggering 133,200 mph (60 miles per second)! “said Slooh astronomer Paul Cox in the statement.
Editor’s note: If you’ve squeezing a great photo of the Meteor Shower of 2020 and want to share it for a story like a photo gallery, send pictures and comments to [email protected]!
Email Chelsea Gohd at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
