Popular Perseid meteor shower peaks soon in CA. Will you be able to see it?
The most popular meteor shower of the summer is about to peak in California.
During the Perseid meteor shower, hundreds of bright, fast-moving meteors zip across the night sky.
The dazzling display of shooting stars, which typically reaches its height in mid-August, is “considered the best meteor shower of the year,” according to NASA.
Here’s how to watch the celebrated celestial show:
What is the Perseid meteor shower?
The Perseids are a combination of leftover comet dust and particles from broken asteroids.
When Earth passes through these trails of space debris, the scraps “collide with our atmosphere and disintegrate to create fiery and colorful streaks in the sky,” NASA said.
The vibrant shower gets its name from the Perseus constellation, since meteors seem to extend outward from that series of stars, the space agency said.
The Perseids are known for spitting out bright fireballs and displaying long streams of light and color as they pass through Earth’s atmosphere, according to NASA.
The radiant shower can produce up to 100 meteors per hour under pristine dark-sky conditions, National Geographic said, calling it “one of the most reliable and beloved annual displays of shooting stars.”
When do Perseids peak in 2025?
In 2025, the annual summer meteor shower is active from July 17 through Aug. 23, according to NASA.
The Perseid meteor shower is set to peak overnight in California starting Tuesday, Aug. 12, and continuing into the morning of Wednesday, Aug. 13.
Will I be able to see the best meteor shower of the year?
The typically brilliant show will be dimmed by a very bright moon in 2025.
On the night of the peak, the moon will be 84% illuminated, washing out most of the shooting stars, according to NASA.
“The average person under dark skies could see somewhere between 40 and 50 Perseids per hour,” Bill Cooke, the lead of NASA’s Meteoroid Environments Office, said in a NASA blog post. “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.”
What’s the best time to watch shooting stars?
Californians can attempt to glimpse some shooting stars in the hours ahead of sunrise, specifically around 2 or 3 a.m., the space agency said.
“A few bright meteors may still be seen in the pre-dawn hours, but viewing conditions are not ideal this year,” NASA said.
Avid stargazers should seek out a rural area with little light pollution and a wide view of the night sky to see the most meteors possible, according to NASA.
People residing in the Golden State have the best chances of witnessing asteroids and meteors dash across the night sky, according to sports betting website Action Network.
The website recently ranked California the No. 1 state in the nation for spotting shooting stars.
This story was originally published August 12, 2025 at 10:34 AM.
