A Meteor Shower Is Lighting Up The Sky Over Canada Soon & It's One Of The Best Of The Year

Will you stay up to watch? For the Perseid meteor shower 2020, Canada will be lit up as meteors streak across the sky. The peak of this cosmic event is happening soon and it can be seen from all over.

During the late evening hours until dawn on August 11 and into August 12, the meteor shower is expected to reach its peak. 

That's when you'll be able to see the shooting stars most frequently.

Though you can always look up at the sky a couple of nights before and after the peak because there should be lots of meteors then too.

According to EarthSky, the Perseids are one of the best of year in the Northern Hemisphere because there's a steady stream of meteors and there are a lot them.

They radiate from the constellation Perseus but you don't need to find the star cluster to see them. 

You'll be able to spot them lighting up all parts of the sky.

Typically the most are seen right before dawn.

There are usually up to 50 to 80 meteors per hour that flash across the sky during the peak of this cosmic event but there could possibly be up to 150 of them per hour.

The Canadian Space Agency has some tips for watching this meteor shower.

If possible, you should head away from the city and head somewhere with more darkness.

It's better to be reclining in a chair or fully lying down because you can see more meteors that way.

Seeing shooting stars might take a while because your eyes need to adjust to the darkness to see them so give yourself time.

This meteor shower is actually tiny debris coming from the comet Swift-Tuttle.

The next one is in October so you'll have to wait a while to see a shooting star if you miss the Perseids.

If you're adventurous and have a telescope or a really good camera, you might want to also try and spot in the night sky.

Both the comet and the meteor shower can be seen when looking northwards.