Look up Minnesota: There's a meteor shower this weekend
Earth will be encountering debris from a comet this weekend. That may sound scary — but it actually means Minnesotans can see the annual Perseid meteor shower if they look up to the skies this weekend.
Meteor showers from this comet are a worldwide event that can be seen best from dark skies, said Bell Museum Planetarium Production Coordinator Thaddeus LaCoursiere.
“And here in Minnesota we’re really lucky we have a lot of those dark skies,” he said. “So astronomical events like this can be a little bit more in the news when we can easily get an hour or so away from city lights and look up and see that these are the celestial fireworks.”
Outside of the Twin Cities' lights, dark skies are prevalent in the state, he said.
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The shower is caused by the Swift–Tuttle comet warming up as it travels around the sun. It leaves behind a trail of debris visible to the naked eye.
The Perseid meteor shower is named after the part of the sky where they travel from, near the constellation of Perseus. This year, the meteors will be more visible because there is barely a quarter moon. That means less light.
LaCoursiere said the best way to enjoy the meteor shower is just to get outside into the darkest skies and look up.
“It can take about 20 minutes for your eyes to get adjusted to the dark. So if you can set aside about an hour or longer, you will be well adjusted to the dark and be able to see these streaks of light across the sky,” he said.
The best time to see the meteor shower will be after midnight or into the early dawn, and the shower is expected to peak this weekend. The greatest number of meteors is likely in the early hours of Sunday, Aug. 13, according to NPR.