Perseid meteor shower peaks this weekend; How Maritimers can view it

All about the Perseid meteor shower An astronomy technician at Saint Mary's University in Halifax shares how people can watch this year's Perseid meteor shower.

The Perseid meteor shower is created from the debris of the comet Swift-Tuttle and is expected to peak Sunday night.

“So the Perseid meteor shower that is peaking this weekend is caused by the dust that is leftover from a comet called Comet Swift-Tuttle and so the Earth is passing through this field sort of like if we were driving in a car,” said Saint Mary’s University Astronomy Technician Tiffany Fields in an interview with CTV’s Ana Almeida on Friday.

“It’s like a bunch of little grain or sand sized pieces of material that are burned up in our atmosphere and we can see the light streak across the sky.”

Fields says the best way to view the meteor shower is to go to a dark and rural area.

“The best way to view a meteor shower is if you can get out to somewhere dark or a rural area. In the city I expected we might be able to see a few, maybe a dozen or so meteors per hour. In a dark area you might be about to see 50-100 per hour,” she says.

“I think if there is clear skies on Sunday night it’s worth getting out even to your backyard, lay back and observe the sky for a while. Give your eyes 10-15 minutes to adjust to the darkness and look everywhere in the sky because they happen everywhere,” she adds.