The peak of shooting stars between August 12th and 13th

The most anticipated shooting stars of the year, the Perseid meteor shower arrives punctually just before mid-August and peaks between August 12th and 13th. They should actually be visible as early as August 9th, but the full Moon is too bright and could disrupt the show. Generally, about ten meteors per hour are expected during the peak: fewer than in 2024.

"After a nearly ideal 2024, observing conditions for the Perseids will be decidedly less favorable in 2025," says astrophysicist Gianluca Masi, scientific director of the Virtual Telescope Project. "The Moon, in fact, is full on the morning of August 9th, three days before its maximum, expected in the late hours of the night between August 12th and 13th, when our satellite will be very invasive, thus spoiling the party."

This doesn't mean, however, that the brightest meteors can't be observed, provided weather conditions permit. It's also important to observe them from a location far from artificial light sources.

The Perseids are generated by grains left behind by the comet Swift-Tuttle during its periodic passages around the Sun, which burn up due to friction as they pass through the Earth's atmosphere, leaving the characteristic trails we call 'shooting stars' in the sky.

"Meteors can be observed at any time, but," Masi added, "there's a significant increase in the number of meteors in the second half of the night. At dawn, observers are on the side of the Earth moving along its orbit toward the comet dust, so it's as if they were looking through a windshield rather than the rear window of our planet."