Prepare to make a wish on several shooting stars.
In their annual summer show, up to 100 Perseid meteors will light up the sky with color and light across the Northern Hemisphere, as the shower peaks Sunday night through Monday morning, and will be best seen after midnight.
NASA scientists say the viewing may be disrupted in the early evening by the moon’s glare, but it will occur around the time the meteor showers peak. They suggest avoiding city lights and finding clear skies to get the most out of the experience.
People who are in the right place at the right time could see a meteor per minute. They can travel at speeds of up to 60 km/s. Experts say it can be a remarkable, even life-changing, experience.
The Perseids are named after the constellation Perseus from which they appear to emanate, according to the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. The Adler explains that while the meteors are commonly called shooting stars, they are not caused by stars but rather by rocks and bits of metal from comets burning up in Earth’s atmosphere when the planet encounters a trail of debris.
This meteor shower is known to be abundant and is part of the debris stream from the periodic comet Swift-Tuttle. It can be observed each year from mid- to late July and into August as the asteroid approaches the sun. Sometimes it can produce bright, colorful fireballs.
Landon Moeller, 19, of Schaumburg and a junior meteorology major at Northern Illinois University, went to the village of Walnut Saturday night to try to see meteors.
“I saw the sky shimmering with a bright turquoise blue,” he said. “So there’s always a chance that something special like this could happen. But even ordinary meteors are just as amazing.”
Observed from Earth every year for centuries, the Perseids are always a spectacle. Observers can see five meteors in a matter of seconds, then go several minutes without seeing any, but the wait is part of the fun.
How to watch
After midnight: Experts suggest observing the sky before dawn and letting your eyes adjust for about half an hour, then looking up at the sky, focusing particularly on the northeast to look for streaks of light.
No equipment is necessary, as meteor showers are best seen with the naked eye in clear skies with little surrounding light.
For Chicagoans who can’t leave the city, heading to the lakefront and looking beyond the horizon can offer a relatively bleak view.
Finding the Darkness: Those who can drive to avoid city light pollution can head east to Aurora and Elgin, south to Joliet and north to Waukegan to avoid the brightest lights. Maps like lightpollutionmap.info can show the best places to view the lights.
In Illinois, the International Dark Sky Association also recommends visiting these communities and parks for dark skies and prime views: Hawthorn Woods Village, Homer Glen, Middle Fork River Forest Preserve near Urbana-Champaign and Mount Forest Island in the Palos Preserves.
Look for clear skies: The main obstacle to observing the meteor shower may be the presence of clouds. According to the National Weather Service forecast, between midnight and 3 a.m., 20 to 35 percent of the sky above the Chicago area will be covered in clouds.
Zachary Yack, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Chicago office, said clouds will move in from the west as early as 10 p.m., but the cover will be high in the atmosphere and thin.
“You should still be able to see through it,” Yack added. “So thicker clouds will probably block you from seeing meteor showers, or even stars.”
These thicker clouds will reach the Chicago metropolitan area around 3 or 4 a.m. Around 4 a.m., the night sky and stars will begin to disappear from view as dawn approaches at 5:25 a.m. and the sun rises over the city at 5:56 a.m.
Even more pleasure in observing the sky
Residents of northern states like the Dakotas, Wisconsin, Michigan, Montana and Washington could get a double benefit Sunday night and Monday morning. That’s because the sun has been emitting plasma in recent days, which can disrupt Earth’s magnetic fields and cause powerful aurora borealis displays.
After a few hours of skywatching, Moeller said he snapped a photo of a meteor streaking through a sky painted with aurora borealis — a combination he had seen twice before.
“I feel like I’ll never get tired of it,” he said.
The next major reliable meteor shower, known as the Geminids, will peak in December.
adperez@chicagotribune.com
