Perseid Meteor Shower 2020: Here's when to catch the meteor shower at its peak this August

Meteor showers have always fascinated humans. There are several types of meteor showers like Eta Aquarid, Lyrid, Perseids and Geminids among others that take place in different seasons.

The meteor shower that usually occurs between July and August is Perseids. According to Bristol Post, it takes place every year between 17 July and 24 August and reaches its peak around 9 to 13 August.

The Perseids are named after the constellation Perseus and made up of tiny space debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle.

Astronomers and stargazers eagerly wait for this meteor show as they get to see 60 to 100 meteors in an hour from a dark place.

"The Perseids are a very good meteor shower with good rates in bright meteors, and it occurs on August evenings when the temperature is more conducive to people being outdoors," Bill Cooke, the lead for NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, told Space.com.

The best view of Perseids will be seen a couple of hours before dawn as it is an early morning shower, Cooke further said. If someone tries to see it at night then moon will not work in their favor, and it will probably reduce the rate of visible Perseid meteors.

The space news website reported that sometimes the Perseid debris field is disturbed by Jupiter, but that will not happen this year.

Few months after the Perseids, Orionid meteor shower will take place. It will peak on the night of 20 October with rates of about 10-20 meteors per hour.

As per a report in Timeanddate, in 2020, the Perseids will peak on the night between 12 and 13 August.

The Perseids are actually little bits of the Comet Swift-Tuttle, according to a CNET report. The comet flies in from the distant parts of the solar system once in every 130 years and travels around the sun before journeying back.

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