The Perseids are one of the most beautiful and well-known meteor showers of the year. To see shooting stars, you don't need a telescope, but you'll have to be patient and choose the right observation spot. Russian astronomers revealed the details.
On August 12, 2026, it's best to observe the meteor shower by scanning the entire northeastern part of the night sky, explained honorary Doctor of Science, astrophysicist Sergey Chumakov. Depending on the conditions, you can see several bright shooting stars in half an hour. However, not all meteors will appear directly in the constellation Perseus, so it's not worth looking at just one spot.
Evgeny Verein, a member of the F. Yu. Zigel Amateur Astronomers' Club, advised choosing a location away from city light pollution.
From the light-polluted center of a modern city, the chances of seeing anything are vanishingly small. Don't be lazy to go out of town – to a dacha plot, a river bank, or just a field.
The expert also explained how to distinguish meteors from other objects in the sky. Airplanes are easy to recognize by their slow movement and flashing navigation lights. Satellites also move slowly, fly in a straight line, and usually do not change brightness, so you can observe them for several minutes.
Meteors, on the other hand, fly by very quickly – crossing entire constellations in just fractions of a second. This is due to the fact that the speed of meteor particles reaches 59 km/s. The flash appears suddenly and almost immediately disappears.