The Arab world’s night skies will light up tonight as the Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak, continuing until the early hours of tomorrow. While viewing conditions this year aren’t perfect, skywatchers can still look forward to a celestial show.
According to Eng. Majed Abu Zahra, President of the Jeddah Astronomy Society, the Perseids are one of the most impressive and active annual meteor showers. In dark, moonless skies, observers can typically see between 75 and 100 meteors per hour. However, with a bright waning gibbous moon this year, visibility is expected to drop to about 10–20 meteors per hour—roughly one meteor every five minutes. Even so, Abu Zahra stressed that plenty of meteors should still be visible.
For the best experience, he recommends finding a dark location far from city lights with an unobstructed view of the sky. Observers should allow around 40 minutes for their eyes to adjust to the darkness, and ideally spend at least an hour at the observation site. Viewing can start after 10 p.m. local time by looking toward the northern horizon, with meteor activity increasing after midnight.
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