Best meteor shower of year visible over Ontario skies next month

The best meteor shower of the year starts next month and should be visible from across Ontario.

The Perseid meteor shower occurs each summer, and it is one of the most prolific, according to Space.com.

NASA says the Perseids are considered the best meteor shower of the year.

The Perseids result from Earth passing through debris — bits of ice and rock — left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle, which last passed close to Earth in 1992, Space.com says.

In 2026, the Earth passes through the Perseid meteor stream from July 14 to Sept. 1, according to EarthSky.

But the peak is expected on the mornings of Aug. 12 and 13. This is when the Earth passes through the densest and dustiest part of the debris.

As always, it’s best to view night sky phenomena away from city lights and at the darkest time possible. The Perseids are best viewed during the pre-dawn hours, though at times it is possible to view meteors from this shower as early as 10 p.m., NASA notes.

Fortunately, this year, there will be a new moon during the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, EarthSky notes.

“In years without moonlight, the meteor rate appears higher, and during outburst years (such as 2016), the rate can reach 150-200 meteors per hour,” Space.com says.

Most of the Perseids are tiny, about the size of a sand grain, Space.com says. Almost none of the fragments hit the ground, but if one does, it’s called a meteorite.

The name Perseids comes from the area of the sky from which the meteors appear to originate — the constellation Perseus, NASA says. The constellation, however, is not the source of the meteors.