Malaysians will reportedly be able to witness the Perseids meteor shower over the night sky at around 1.30am on Sunday, 13 August (time and date have been corrected).
The National Space Agency said in a statement that we’ll get to see between 60 to 150 meteors an hour! But the meteors will only be visible in areas free of light pollution during the phenomenon.
However, the gibbous moon (when the moon is more than half full) is also expected to rise around 10.16pm on Friday, 11 August. This could make it difficult for us to see the meteor shower clearly because the sky would be quite lighted up.
The Perseids meteor shower is a phenomenon that occurs every year when the earth passes through a comet’s path and the comet dust burns when hitting the earth’s atmosphere, creating bright streaks across the sky. This usually happens between 17 July and 24 August.
The Perseids is one of the more prolific meteor showers of the year and could sometimes produce up to 200 meteors an hour. It is associated with the Swift-Tuttle comet, which was discovered by astronomers in 1862.
Apparently, this meteor shower dates as far back as 2,000 years! So they’ve been around for quite a while now.
So if you want to catch this epic light show this weekend, head over to an area that is completely free of light pollution, we suggest going for a road trip out of town, settle down in a comfortable position because stargazing is basically a waiting game and give it about 30 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the dark.