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The brightest “meteor shower” of the year kicked off
Aug 02, 2016 | 12:00 / Interesting information
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The brightest “meteor shower” is going amaze the Earth inhabitants. Thus, 2016 Perseid meteor shower will peak on August 12 and 13. A waxing gibbous Moon will make it harder for observers to watch the meteor shower.

The Perseid meteor shower, one of the brighter meteor showers of the year, occur every year between July 17 and August 24. The shower tends to peak around August 9-13.

The best time to view the Perseids, or most other meteor showers is when the sky is the darkest. Most astronomers suggest that depending on the Moon’s phase, the best time to view meteor showers is right before dawn.

Made of tiny space debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle, the Perseids are named after the constellation Perseus. This is because the direction, or radiant, from which the shower seems to come in the sky lies in the same direction as the constellation Perseus, which can be found in the north-eastern part of the sky.

While the skies light up several time a year by other meteor showers, the Perseids are widely sought after by astronomers and stargazers. This is because at its peak, one can see 60 to a 100 meteors in an hour from a dark place.

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