One of the Best Meteor Showers of the Year Is Coming t0 New Jersey
If you have ever wanted an excuse to head to the beach in the middle of the night, this might be it.
One of the best meteor showers of the year is coming this week, and we could have a great view of it right here in the Wildwoods.
The Perseid meteor shower will peak Wednesday night, August 12, into early Thursday morning, August 13. If the weather cooperates, you could see dozens of shooting stars throughout the night.
One of the Best Meteor Showers of the Year Is Coming on New Jersey
This year should also be a good one for watching.
The moon will be basically out of the picture, which means there won’t be much moonlight making it harder to see the fainter meteors.
The Perseids actually last for several weeks, from mid-July through late August, but August 12 and 13 are when you’ll want to look up.
In darker areas, you could see around 30 to 50 meteors per hour. Under absolutely perfect conditions, that number can be even higher.
The Perseids are also known for producing some really bright shooting stars and even fireballs.
Where Should You Watch in the Wildwoods?
The biggest thing you want to avoid is light.
If you tried watching this from Philadelphia or another heavily developed area, all of those lights would make it much harder to see the sky.
That’s why the beach could be one of the best places to watch.
Of course, the Wildwoods still have plenty of lights, especially around the Boardwalk. But if you can get farther away from those lights and find a darker section of beach, you’ll have a much better chance of seeing the meteors.
There are two places I would try.
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The first is the northern end of North Wildwood near the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse. You’re farther away from the main concentration of Boardwalk lights, and the area around the inlet can get much darker at night.
The other option is to head south into Wildwood Crest.
The farther south you go in the Crest, the farther away you are from the bright lights of the Boardwalk and amusement piers. Find a darker section of beach and, if possible, position yourself so nearby buildings and lights are behind you.
What Time Should You Go?
You don’t have to rush out there as soon as the sun goes down.
Your best chance will come later Wednesday night and especially after midnight into early Thursday morning.
As the night goes on, the part of the sky where the Perseids come from gets higher, which usually means you’ll have a better chance of seeing more meteors.
And don’t worry about looking in one exact direction.
The meteors can shoot across different parts of the sky. Find a comfortable spot with a wide view, sit back and look up.
One important tip: stay off your phone.
It can take your eyes about 20 to 30 minutes to fully adjust to the darkness. Looking at a bright phone screen can mess up your night vision and make those fainter shooting stars much harder to see.
What Exactly Are We Seeing?
Despite the name, shooting stars aren’t actually stars.
Every year, Earth travels through debris left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle.
Tiny pieces of that debris hit Earth’s atmosphere at incredible speeds and burn up, creating those bright streaks across the sky.
That happens every summer, giving us the Perseid meteor shower.
It’s one of the most popular meteor showers of the year because it happens during warm summer nights and can produce some very bright meteors.
And here in the Wildwoods, we have another advantage: the beach.
You don’t need a telescope. You don’t need binoculars. You really don’t need anything.
Find a dark section of beach, put the phone away and look up.
If the weather cooperates, Wednesday night into Thursday morning could give us one of the best nights of the summer for watching the sky from the beaches of the Wildwoods.