United Kingdom: Perseids Meteor Shower Peaks Wednesday Night With New Moon Dark Skies

This year's Perseid peak coincides with a new moon, so there will be no bright moonlight to obscure meteors. The dazzling display is set to light up the night sky on Wednesday, but skywatchers will be treated to not one, but two, impressive astronomical events within just a few hours of each other. A deep partial solar eclipse will also be visible in the UK in the early evening before the Sun sets and the stars emerge.

While the two events are unrelated, their timing makes for an exceptional night of stargazing. Astronomer Dr Becky Smethurst said it was the perfect cosmic coincidence of events. Meteor showers happen when the Earth passes through trails of debris from asteroids or comets—a snowball of frozen rock and gas orbiting the Sun. As that debris enters our planet's atmosphere, it burns up and creates spectacular streaks of light—meteors.