This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher: The Perseid meteor shower

Although the Moon will obscure fainter streaks, this annual event is still worth watching.
By | Published: August 11, 2025 | Last updated on August 12, 2025

In this episode, Astronomy magazine Editor Dave Eicher invites you to head out on the evenings of August 12th and 13th to watch for rapid streaks of light crossing the sky. Those streaks occur when Earth passes through a stream of particles left behind by a comet. Because they all appear to originate from the constellation Perseus, we call them the Perseid meteor shower. The Moon will be bright this year, so face away from it. Good luck!