Prosperous Perseid meteor shower Put on quite the show, and we’ve rounded up some of the best photos from around the world to prove it.
with the moon With only 10% illuminated during the peak – the night of August 12 and the dawn of August 13 – the viewing conditions for the Perseids were much better than last year, which was a miserable sighting. Meteorites shone through full moon.
Perseids occurs Earth Pass through the debris – ice and rock fragments – left behind Comet Swift-Tuttle It last passed close to Earth in 1992. Aug. Perseids peak on 11-12 when the Earth passes through a very dense and dusty region. No-moonlight years see the highest rates of meteors per hour, and explosive years (like 2016) have rates between 150-200 meteors per hour!
Don’t worry if you don’t catch anything during the peak, the Perseid meteor shower will remain active until August 24, although fewer meteors will be visible for an hour compared to the peak of the shower.
Related: Meteor Shower Guide: When is the Next Meteor Shower?
Amateur astronomer Fotis Mavroudakis took this beautiful photo on August 13 in the mountains of Drama in northern Greece. The river Nestos flows in front.
“I devoted many hours to capturing the celestial scene,” Mavroudakis told Space.com in an email.
“The clear night conditions allowed me to create an image that not only highlighted the brilliance of the meteor, but also revealed the enormity of the universe. The meteor’s vibrant path and the calm expanse of the night sky combined to create wonder and fascination.”
Pictured below, on August 13, 2023, a Perseid meteor streaks across the sky through the Sphinx Door at the ancient city of Hattusa in the Bogaskal district of Korat, Turkey.
The Perseid meteor lights up the sky on Aug. 13, 2023 in Golok Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China.
Here, a Perseid meteor streaks across the sky in Leon, Spain.
The Sarpincik Lighthouse wasn’t the only sight to light up the sky in Turkey’s Izmir district on August 13.
Phil Kirschner managed to catch a Perseid meteor streaking across the sky below Jupiter.
“We counted 19 Perseids in 1 hour and need 1 more,” Kirschner told Space.com in an email. “I aimed the Samsung s22 at Jupiter and captured this Perseid in a 30-second shot in less than 5 seconds.”
Below, a long Perseid train shines over the historic Prygian Valley near Ihsaniye in the Afyonkarahisar district of Turkey.
Amateur astrophotographer Richard Raja (Instagram @_astrorich) caught some Perseid meteorites and an impressive fireball while meteor hunting at the Fremont Peak Observatory in California, USA.
“Watching the meteors and flares all night was just as fun as seeing the first one,” Raja told Space.com in an email.
“Finding that I was able to capture some on my camera definitely made my 80-mile trip out of town worthwhile.”
In the photo below, a bright Perseid meteor streaks along the star-studded Milky Way above the lush countryside in Ratnapura, Sri Lanka.
The incredible green hue of the bright Perseid meteorite is clearly visible in this image taken Aug. 13 above an abandoned historic caravanserai near Karmsar in Semnan province, 77 miles (123 kilometers) southeast of Tehran, Iran.
Several Perseids were observed above the Lick Laboratory in Mount Hamilton, California, USA.
A bright Perseid meteor lights up the sky over Golok Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in China’s Qinghai Province.
Sky watchers gather to watch the Perseid meteor shower in the Karakabe district of Bursa, Turkey, on August 12.
A bright Perseid meteor illuminates the bright lights of White Lake in North Carolina, USA
The stunning image below shows the Perseid meteor shower in full swing above the National Observatory Moon Station in Beijing, China.
The Perseid meteor shower lit up the sky above the Magdesh Ramon region of southern Israel’s Negev desert.
A long Perseid train shines over the historic Phrygian valley in the Ihsaniye district of Afyonkarahisar, Turkey.
If all these Perseid photos have inspired you to up your photography game, check out our gallery The best cameras for astrophotography And our How to photograph a meteor shower Guide for some help and advice.
Let us know if you take a good photo of the Perseid meteor shower (or any other night sky target)! You can send pictures and comments to [email protected].
