Perseid meteor shower: when is the peak and other key UK dates

Perseid meteor shower: Throughout the year, meteor showers come and go, but when will the Delta Aquariids peak?

The Delta Aquariids in July 2022 were already a treat for astronomers, but more phenomena will soon light up the night sky in 2022.

Between 160 and 200 meteors will penetrate Earth’s atmosphere every hour as the Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak between August 12 and 13 in 2022.

The shower is one of the most well-known in the Northern Hemisphere in the early morning hours,

and although it is not the strongest, its observers can enjoy it in the summer.

When they are at their brightest, the Perseids are caused by collisions between Earth and Swift-Tuttle Comet debris.

The name of the shower comes from the Greek term perseidai, which in Greek mythology alludes to the moment at which they appear to hail and means the sons of Perseus.

The peak in 2022 unfortunately coincides with the Full Moon, thus lighting conditions are predicted to be especially terrible.

The best time to see the meteor shower is from around midnight until 5.30 am to improve the likelihood of seeing the meteors because the darker the sky, the better.

There are lots of other opportunities to watch the sky filled with light streaks, so don’t worry if you miss the shower that time.

Here, we’ve put up a comprehensive guide on how, when, and where you can witness every meteor shower in 2022.

An explanation of meteor showers

Simply put, a meteor shower happens when several meteors flash across the sky from nearly the same place as Earth passes through the debris stream surrounding a comet.

Although they technically have nothing to do with stars, Perseid meteor meteors are occasionally referred to as shooting stars.

Meteor showers appear to originate from a single spot in the sky known as the shower,

radiant due to perspective. A particle the size of a sand grain that hits Earth’s atmosphere at 134,000 mph turns into a meteor when it vaporises there.

A fireball will be produced by anything bigger than a grape, and this fireball will frequently be followed by a meteor train, which is a persistent afterglow. This is a column of ionised gas that is progressively losing energy and disappearing from view.

Perseid meteor

Is it a meteor, meteoroid, or meteorite?
A meteor is a meteoroid, or a piece of an asteroid or comet that has been broken off and is orbiting the Sun, that burns up as it enters the Earth’s atmosphere and produces a “shooting star.”

Meteorites are meteoroids that make it to the Earth’s surface undamaged.

The majority of meteors are grains of rice-sized ice and comet dust. The majority of meteorites, which may weigh up to 60 tonnes, are rocks that have been shattered off asteroids in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

They might be “stony,” composed of silicon- and oxygen-rich minerals, “iron,” mostly composed of iron and nickel, or “stony-iron,” a combination of the two.

According to NASA, the majority of the meteoric material that strikes Earth each day is dust-like grains, which pose little danger to the planet and weigh between 1,000 and 10,000 tonnes.

Only two instances of a meteorite injury have been documented. In one of these incidents, an eight-pound meteorite that crashed through a woman’s roof in 1954 left her with bruises.

showers of meteors in 2022

Draconid meteor storm

The Draconids, often referred to as the Giacobinids, are periodic comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner and are most visible in the Northern Hemisphere (though it is still possible to see them in the Southern Hemisphere).

The shower is renowned for being a sleeper and is thought to be less active than others.

More than five meteors each hour are hardly typical. However, astronomers were treated to thousands of meteors in only one hour in 1933 and 1946, demonstrating the Draconid’s erratic character.

The shower will peak in 2022 between October 8 and 9, but unfavourable weather, such as cloud cover and fog, has frequently obscured the spectacle for onlookers in recent years.

A meteor shower in Orion

The Orionid meteor shower, possibly the most renowned comet in history, is known for its brilliant,

long-lasting streaks that remain after the meteors have disappeared. It happens when Earth travels through Halley’s Comet debris.

Even while this shower is not as noticeable as some others, you can increase your chances by going to isolated, dark areas during its height.

The shower is exceptionally rare and only seldom seen from Earth; in 2022, it will peak early on October 21 and 22 and be seen in both hemispheres.

You may see up to 20 orinid meteors every hour since they appear to come from the direction of the Orion constellation and typically move at a speed of about 41 miles per second.

Meteor shower Leonid

The Tempel-Tuttle comet, which revolves around the Sun every 33 years, is where the Leonid meteor shower takes place. When this occurs, our planet can see thousands of shooting stars.

In 2022, it will peak in the middle of November, and observers might see 10 to 20 meteors an hour. This may be rather hopeful, though, as the meteors might strike the UK below the horizon.

The following spectacular spectacle is not anticipated until 2034.