Professor Don Pollacco, Physics, University of Warwick, said:

“The Perseids meteor shower is one of the richest and this year it occurs close to new moon on the evening of 12^th August. With the moon not visible, and with outside temperatures comfy this time of year, it one of the best opportunities to see this spectacular shower. The shower is best seen on the morning of the 13^th a few hours before sunrise.

“Typically, the Perseids produce more than 100 meteors per hour which includes many bright, electric blue coloured, meteors. So setup outside maybe around 11pm or later, with a reclining chair. Look Eastward - but not directly at Perseus. You should see maybe a meteor every few minutes and if you could track their paths back they would appear to all originate from Perseus – a position called the radiant. One interesting observation is seeing a meteor at the shower radiant. This is coming straight towards you!

“Meteors are usually fragments of dust, the size of grains of sand, that were ejected by comets and remain traveling in the cometary orbit. If the Earth passes through this path then the dust fragments fall into the Earth’s atmosphere usually moving with great speed. The streak we see in the sky is the vaporisation of the fragment to its high speed and friction with the atmosphere.

“Also active during this time, but reaching a peak on the 18^th Aug, is another shower, the Kappa Cygnids. Its maximum meteor rate is only a few a handful of meteors per hour but they tend to be fast moving and often very bright.

“If you are going to try and observe just one meteor shower this year, make sure it’s the Perseids!”