Perseid meteor shower: When and where to watch hundreds of shooting stars as Venus, Jupiter converge? Check details

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The Perseid meteor shower, known for bright meteors, will see reduced visibility this year, with only 10 to 20 meteors per hour expected due to the bright August full moon.

A meteor streaks the night sky during the annual Perseid meteor shower in Split, Croatia August 12, 2025. (Image: Reuters)(REUTERS)

The Perseid meteor shower is famous for its bright meteors that often leave long, glowing trails.

While in past years the shower has delivered around 40 to 50 visible meteors per hour, this year’s display is expected to be less impressive, according to Bill Cooke, head of NASA’s Meteoroid Environments Office. The reduced visibility is due to the timing of the shower, which comes just after August’s full moon, its brightness likely obscuring many of the meteors from view.

“The average person under dark skies could see somewhere between 40 and 50 Perseids per hour. Instead, you’re probably going to see 10 to 20 per hour or fewer, and that’s because we have a bright Moon in the sky washing out the fainter meteors,” Cooke said. He added, "You’re not going to see Perseids around suppertime. You’re going to have to go out later. Look anywhere but at the Moon.”

When can I watch Perseid meteor shower?

According to Finn Burridge, a science communicator at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, the Perseid meteor shower in 2025 peaks during the nights of August 11–12 and August 12–13. Viewing of the Perseids takes place until August 23.

What does the Perseid meteor shower mean?

Meteor showers occur when Earth moves through bands of dust and debris left in space by comets or asteroids.

The Perseid meteor shower comes from Comet Swift–Tuttle, which takes about 133 years to complete a full orbit around the Sun. As Earth crosses the path of debris left by this comet, tiny particles enter our atmosphere at speeds of roughly 37 miles (59 kilometers) per second. When they hit the atmosphere, they burn up, creating the bright flashes we see as meteors.

The Perseids have been visible for close to 2,000 years, with some of the earliest records dating back to ancient China. The shower is named after the constellation Perseus, since the meteors seem to originate from that point in the sky. The Perseid meteor shower occurs when Earth moves through the trail of debris left by comet 109P/Swift–Tuttle.

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