Perseid meteor shower visible from Việt Nam early next week

The Perseid meteor shower is one of the best shooting star displays of the year. —Photo vov.vn

HÀ NỘI — Sky-watchers in Việt Nam have a chance to see the Perseid meteor shower on the night of August 12 and early morning of August 13, according to Vietnam Astronomy and Cosmology Association (VACA).

In 2024, the Perseid meteor shower is active between July 17 and August 24, with the number of meteors increasing every night until it reaches a peak in mid-August, after which it will tail off. This year, the peak falls on the night of August 12 and before dawn on August 13.

Đặng Vũ Tuấn Sơn, VACA President, said that people in Việt Nam can observe the shower after midnight, with the most ideal time being after 2am on August 13.

The Perseids put on a dazzling display every August as Earth plows through a stream of debris left behind by comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, which swings around the Sun every 133 years.

Ranging in size from sand grains to boulders, the comet fragments slam into our atmosphere at speeds of more than a hundred thousand miles an hour (161,000 kilometres per hour), causing the meteors to burn up and become bright, fast-moving streamers in the night sky, according to American TV channel National Geographic.

For years, the Perseid meteor shower has long been an anticipated event for Vietnamese sky-watchers, as it is one of the year’s two biggest sky shows besides Geminids, Sơn said.

During the peak, observers can see up to 60-100 meteors per hour under ideal conditions, he added.

He said that people need to look up at the northeastern sky at an angle of 30-50 degrees from the ground under ideal conditions.

If the sky is cloudy or rainy, meteors will not be visible. — VNS