Here’s your final Perseid meteor shower update for 2022

There are lots of summer monsoon showers to be had, but there is another type of shower which is occurring right now – the Perseid meteor showers!

This is listed as one of the best of all meteor shower events of the year, with many people on vacation and at locations which are in dark skies.

The Persieds have a rich history and occur from July 25-Aug. 19 if you have a clear sky and if you don’t have bright moonlight.

This year’s Perseids are predicted to peak the morning of Aug. 11-12 for observers in the western parts of the nation.

The parent comet which produces the Perseids is 109/P Swift-Tuttle, which has an orbital period of some 133 years.

This shower can produce well over 100 meteors an hour under ideal conditions, but for 2022, we will experience the last of the so-called super moons — the full super sturgeon moon.

This moon will hamper the total number of meteors seen.

Here is the history of Comet Swift-Tuttle.

A bit of the history of the meteor shower.

The meteors that you do see are traveling around 133,000 mph as they enter the atmosphere!

Hard to believe, but many are just the size of grains of beach sand.

There is still hope to view some of the shower, as the moon will set before sunrise a few days ahead of the full moon date.

My suggestion is to look to the northeastern sky from 3 a.m. Arizona time till dawn. You may get to see a few meteors to make it a worthwhile event.

Here is the area of the sky where the meteors are coming from.

Since meteor science is not an absolute with regards to the actual peak, there is a possibility that the shower will offer some surprises too.

In 2021, the shower was to have peaked on the morning of Aug. 12-13, but a large unexpected outburst occurred on the morning of August 14th…with burst of meteors at a rate of 3-4 per second.

The point being; you should try your luck before and after the predicted peak. These outbursts are due to large filaments of meteor dust which can appear ahead or behind the comet stream.

Just in case you do not get so see any Perseids, here is a video of some of the best meteorite falls.

Best of luck!

To print your own monthly star chart, click here.

To view satellites/dates/times of passage, click here.

Listen to the Dr. Sky Show on KTAR News 92.3 FM every Saturday at 3 a.m.

Podcasts are available here.