Perseids: Bright moon makes stargazing nights more difficult

This year, it's better to watch in the early evening

Jochen Engelmann from the Rodewisch Observatory said: "It's quite conceivable that you could see one or two Perseids at the end of July." In fact, the second half of the night is always when you can expect to see the most shooting stars. However, because of the bright moon, he recommends the first two hours as soon as it gets dark. The Rodewisch Observatory invites you to come and watch shooting stars together on the night of August 13.

The figure of 100 shooting stars that can be seen per hour is always circulating, Engelmann continued. "That's a purely theoretical figure." He had already seen many shooting star nights in his life. Many years ago, he once counted 45 in one hour, but no more than that.

The Perseids occur when the Earth crosses the debris cloud of comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle on its orbit around the sun and collides with the particles scattered by it. These dust particles from the comet's tail enter the Earth's atmosphere and burn up there.