The Perseid meteor shower is due to peak around the 12th to 13th of August this year. Because there is a new moon, the night skies will be nice and dark meaning that we should be able to see shooting stars over Wye View again – provided that there isn’t too much cloud of course!
The meteor shower is an annual event, and is caused by the Earth moving through particles of the Swift-Tuttle comet which burn up in our atmosphere and look to us like fast moving shooting stars. Because they appear to come from the Perseus constellation, they are called the Perseids.
Sharp-eyed watchers have already reported some Perseid meteors this year, and the combination of little cloud cover, the new moon and our wonderful dark skies here in Mid Wales should mean that there will be plenty to see in the nights around the peak.
In past years we have driven to the heart of the Elan Valley, near the Pen-y-garreg dam, where at midnight there are no lights visible for miles around – and seeing the stars reflected in the reservoir and the milky way overhead is breathtaking.