Perseid meteor shower, supermoon to light up the sky together

An annual summer show by meteors will be interrupted this week by a veteran star of the night sky: the moon.

The annual Perseid meteor shower, which typically peaks in mid-August, this year will have to contend not just with a full moon, but with a supermoon, created when the moon comes closest to the Earth in its elliptical orbit.

The supermoon is about 30 per cent brighter than a normal full moon and appears 14 per cent larger in the sky, astronomers say.

NASA said the extra light could upstage the meteor shower or make it even better, as meteors streak around it.

“During the second week of August the biggest and brightest full moon of the year will face off against everyone’s favourite meteor shower and the outcome could be beautiful,” the US space agency said in a video posted on its website.

The Perseid meteor shower is expected to peak on Tuesday to Wednesday, the agency says. Astronomers say it can produce as many as 80 shooting stars an hour.

The meteors are created when the Swift-Tuttle comet swings through the inner solar system, leaving behind a trail of dust and grit. When earth passes through the debris, the comet dust hits the Earth’s atmosphere at 225,000 kilometres per hour and disintegrates into flashes of light.

Most of the world can see Perseid meteorites any time after darkness, with peak viewing in the two hours before dawn.

While it remains to be seen how many meteors the supermoon will wash out, NASA said, “There should still be a good show of brighter meteors in this prolific shower.”

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