Biggest meteor shower of 2024 to peak ahead of rare supermoon this month

The biggest meteor shower of the year is set to peak this month, just days before the first supermoon of 2024.

The Perseid meteor shower has been visible since mid-July but is expected to peak on the night of 11 August, with up to 100 ‘shooting stars’ appearing each hour until dawn.

Before the meteors disappear for another year at the end of the month, a full moon on 19 August will appear bigger and brighter in the sky alongside them as the Earth’s natural satellite approaches the closest point of its orbit.

The occurrence of a bright supermoon is typically not good for stargazing or meteor watching, however on the night of the Perseids peak the Moon will set at midnight.

The Moon setting combined with warm conditions make it an ideal opportunity to witness the celestial spectacle, with scientists from Nasa and the European Space Agency (ESA) saying the best time to see them will be the pre-dawn hours before sunrise..

“The Perseid meteor shower , which peaks in mid-August, is considered the best meteor shower of the year,” Nasa notes on its website.

“With swift and bright meteors, Perseids frequently leave long ‘wakes’ of light and colour behind them as they streak through Earth’s atmosphere.”

The US space agency said skygazers can expect between 50 to 100 meteors per hour during its peak, with no need for specialist viewing equipment like telescopes or binoculars to view them.

The ESA advises people to head to an area with minimal light pollution and to avoid looking at screens or other bright objects for half an hour to allow your eyes to adjust to the darkness.

Several observatories are expected to live stream the night sky on the night that the Perseids peak, with telescopes pointed to the section of sky from which they emerge.

Radiating from the Perseus constellation in the northeastern sky of the Northern Hemisphere, which follows the more distinctive Cassiopeia constellation across the sky.

The bright meteor streaks occur as the Earth passes through the tail of the Comet Swift-Tuttle, causing debris to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere at temperatures of up to 1,650 degrees Celsius - meaning the space rocks are unlikely to reach the ground intact.