Meteor shower lights up sky tonight
Posted Aug 12, 2018 12:38:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Perseid Meteor Shower will be in all its glory tonight as hundreds of thousand of meteors enter the atmosphere over the northern hemisphere.
The meteor shower happens when Earth plows into the Swift-Tuttle comet trail and tiny sand-sized bits of debris burn up in our atmosphere, lighting up the sky.
Jim Goetz is with the KW Astronomy Club and says this is one of the best meteor showers to view.
“It's in August, so it is warm and it comes in at about 100 to 120 meteors per hour, so if you are looking in one part in the sky you see them all radiating from the constellation Perseus.”
Goetz says if you miss the peak of the shower tonight, don't worry, the Perseid usually lasts until the last week of August.
The KW Astronomy Club will be holding a Star Party for those who want to see the light show through a telescope.
The Star Party will take place at the Columbia Ice Fields starting at 7:30 p.m. tonight.
You can find a link to the event here.
