This is a photo of a moon at over 98% full. The image was taken one day prior to the supermoon, or a moon that appears larger due to being the closest to earth in its elliptic orbit.
One of the year’s most prolific meteor showers will coincide with the final supermoon of 2022, joining forces for a rare celestial show Thursday night.
The Perseids meteor shower, which occurs annually when the Earth moves through the trail left behind by the Swift-Tuttle comet, can lead to 60 to 100 meteors per hour at its peak.
Stargazers will have to do a few things to give themselves the maximum opportunity to see it, though.
The peak of the show happens to fall on the same night that the “Sturgeon Moon” will be in the night sky, meaning that the extra light from the moon could potentially wash out some of the fainter trails of the meteors as they move through the atmosphere.
Fortunately, for those interested in spotting meteors, there are a few things you can do to see them.
First, the peak of the show will occur at midnight Friday, meaning that the “radiant point” of the meteor shower will be higher in the eastern horizon and the moon will be lower in the western horizon, providing for darker skies.
According to forecast models, the skies should be partly-to-mostly clear Thursday night and into Friday morning as a dome of high-pressure continues to exert its influence over the area.
Residents should also try to get away from city lights as much as possible to see the show, facing toward the east once they find dark enough skies to see the meteors fall.
Finally, officials at the Adler Planetarium are advising residents to give themselves plenty of time to adjust to the darkness. It can take the human eye 20 to 30 minutes to adjust to the darkness, and once it does, you’ll likely be able to see several meteors per minute.
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