{"id":1850,"date":"2025-08-16T07:22:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T07:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/1850\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T07:22:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T07:22:08","slug":"venus-and-jupiter-appear-close-in-the-sky-for-summers-best-meteor-shower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/1850\/","title":{"rendered":"Venus and Jupiter appear close in the sky for summer\u2019s best meteor shower"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Summer\u2019s most dazzling meteor shower, the Perseids<\/a>, peaks early Wednesday. At the same time, Venus and Jupiter will converge in the sky \u2014 overlapping like a very bright star.<\/p>\n

If your focus is the meteor shower, it\u2019s worth knowing that this year a bright moon will dampen viewing during the pre-dawn peak, so some experts recommend waiting a week or so to glimpse shooting stars<\/a> against a darker sky.<\/p>\n

The Perseids<\/a> \u201care an incredible meteor shower,\u201d said Thaddeus LaCoursiere, planetarium program coordinator at the Bell Museum in St. Paul, Minnesota.<\/p>\n

Under dark skies with no moon, the Perseids can produce between 60 to 100 meteors per hour, he said. Since the moon will be around 84% full during the peak, skywatchers might expect between 10 to 20 meteors per hour, according to the American Meteor Society.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year I\u2019m actually recommending that people go out a little bit later\u201d \u2014 a week or so past the peak when the moon will not be as bright, LaCoursiere said.<\/p>\n

Viewing of the Perseids lasts until August 23.<\/p>\n

What is a meteor shower?<\/b>\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the Earth orbits the sun, several times a year it passes through debris left by passing comets and sometimes asteroids.<\/p>\n

The source of the Perseids is debris from comet 109P\/Swift-Tuttle.<\/p>\n

When these fast-moving space rocks enter Earth\u2019s atmosphere, the debris encounters new resistance from the air and becomes very hot, eventually burning up.<\/p>\n

Sometimes the surrounding air glows briefly, leaving behind a fiery tail \u2014 the end of a \u201cshooting star.\u201d<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t need special equipment to see the various meteor showers that flash across annually, just a spot away from city lights.<\/p>\n

How to view a meteor shower<\/b><\/p>\n

The best time to watch a meteor shower is in the early predawn hours when the moon is low in the sky.<\/p>\n

Competing sources of light \u2014 such as a bright moon or artificial glow \u2014 are the main obstacles to a clear view of meteors. Cloudless nights when the moon wanes smallest are optimal viewing opportunities.<\/p>\n

And keep looking up, not down. Your eyes will be better adapted to spot shooting stars if you aren\u2019t checking your phone.<\/p>\n

When is the next meteor shower?<\/b><\/p>\n

The next major meteor shower, the Orionids, peaks in late October.
___<\/p>\n

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute\u2019s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Summer\u2019s most dazzling meteor shower, the Perseids, peaks early Wednesday. At the same time, Venus…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[2250,2251,18,19,17,2252,2253,2254,2255,2256,2257,2258,133,2259],"class_list":{"0":"post-1850","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-13-action-news","9":"tag-abc-13","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-ktnv-tv-channel-13","14":"tag-las-vegas","15":"tag-las-vegas-nevada","16":"tag-las-vegas-news","17":"tag-las-vegas-tv-station","18":"tag-news-in-las-vegas","19":"tag-news-stories-in-las-vegas","20":"tag-science","21":"tag-whats-happening-in-las-vegas"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}