Perseid meteor shower set to peak late this week
Though much of Canada will not have an opportunity to observe the upcoming once-in-a-lifetime full solar eclipse set for Aug. 21, there is still one astronomical event to be seen.
The best summertime meteor shower, the Perseid, is set to peak Aug. 11, 12 and 13. Though already underway, as Earth moves further into a cloud of debris left from Comet Swift-Tuttle, which last passed us in 1992, the number of meteors will quickly ramp up.
Leading up to next weekend, the number per hour will increase from around 80 to upwards of 100 in dark-sky locations.
But unlike in 2016, it will be a tad more difficult to observe the shower. The moon is set to be three-quarters full these nights and its light will wash out some of the fainter fireballs.