The Perseids meteor shower for 2018

Perseids meteor shower of 2015 at Aldea del Cano, just South of Caceres in South-western Spain. José Joaquín Galán. 

The Perseids are perhaps the most popular meteor shower of the year and this year according to NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke, should be the best shower of this year. During peak this week, spectators should see about 60-70 meteors per hour, but in outburst years (such as in 2016) the rate can be between 150-200 meteors an hour. 

The meteor shower's peak will be visible both the nights 11-12 of August, Cooke said. Also because the moon will be near new moon, it will be a crescent, meaning that it will set before the Perseid show gets underway after midnight. The name derives from the constellation where they seem to radiate, Perseus. 

The Perseid meteor shower appears to radiate out of the constellation Perseus, from which they take their name. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

This meteor shower is originated by the leftovers of Comet Swift-Tuttle, when the Earth passes through the path of the comet during the days July 17 to August 24, with the shower's peak occurring when our planets encounters the densest, dustiest area, occurring on August 12. 

This comet, responsible for the fiery display of summer also pose a risk to our world, due to the uncertainty that it could collide with Earth on August 14, 2126, producing a far less desirable firework, since its size is about 10 km, the same size of the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. 

Comet Swift–Tuttle on 4 April 1892 and 6 April 1892 from Sydney. Wikipedia.

The particles of this celestial body encountering the Earth are travelling at 60 km per second and burning at 1,650 degrees Celsius, leaving behind a trail of light, meteors typically occur in the mesosphere at altitudes from 76 to 100 km. The root word meteor comes from the Greek meteōros, meaning "high in the air”. 

To best photograph them, we need dark skies without light pollution, use a red light to adapt your eyes to the dark, and having a tree, or an interesting element in the landscape, such a ruin, mountain etc., will improve the composition of the image. 

Technically is best to shoot on raw format, if not use tungsten mode at 3200 ºK, the icon with the bulb, with an ISO of 400 to older cameras or 800 for the newer ones, latest cameras will have no problem with a higher ISO and don’t go with apertures smaller than f/5.6 to capture more light. 

Since we are shooting north we can set the time of exposure for up to 30 seconds before we see star trails, and also take off the noise reduction, because there will be a delay between exposures, and it is not that useful in these conditions. Finally, it is best employing a wide angle lens between 12 and 24 mm. 

Sources: Space.com, Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Wikipedia,