The 2022 Perseid meteor shower peaked this weekend and while the bright full moon may have washed out the best of this year’s “shooting star” display, that doesn’t mean skygazers were left completely in the dark. .
Stargazers around the world captured some dazzling views of the perseid meteor shower as it peaked overnight on Friday and Saturday (August 12 and 13) and they shared the photos to prove it. Some observers took to Twitter to share theirs. meteorite views, while other astrophotographers took some really impressive photos for Getty Images.
“The Perseid Fireball I Saw Last Night from Oxfordshire” – Sky watcher Mary McIntyre from Oxfordshire in the UK wrote (opens in a new tab) on Twitter, adding that he captured the Perseid photos with a meteor camera. “The ionization trail was amazing.”
Related: The Perseid meteor shower generates the first “shooting stars” (video)
The Perseid meteor shower is usually one of the best meteor displays of the year, but its peak in 2022 came just one day after the sturgeon supermoon (August full moon) on August 2. 11. Since dark skies are vital for meteor viewing, even bright moonlight can obscure stargazers’ perspectives.
Photographer Wu Zhengjie for the VCG photo service and Getty Images still managed to capture stunning views of the Perseids from the Eboliang Yardang landform in Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai province of China. The images show bright Perseid meteors over a stunning landscape.
Another photographer, Veysel Altun of Anadalou Agency and Getty Images, managed to capture a streak of Perseid meteorites over a campsite in Samsun, Turkey.
Photographer Ercin Ertuk, also of Anadalou Agency and Getty Images, snapped a photo of a Perseid as it streaked across the sky above the trees in Ankara, Turkey.
Even more stargazers managed to capture views of the Perseids with their own cameras or meteor cameras that constantly scan the sky for fireballs. Here’s a look at some of our favorites spotted on Twitter.
This pebble came a long way before giving me a little show last week. Fortunately, there were plenty of meteors during the #perseid buildup, because during tonight’s peak it will be hard to see all but the brightest ones with a full moon in the sky @BBCStargazing pic.twitter.com/n2iFVBi0p0August 12, 2022
Peak night of the #Perseids. It’s something, I guess. The full moon made it bright, and we were lucky to have clear skies below a low point in any case. Fireballs avoided most of my cameras, but I got them with the 8mm fisheye. Two Perseids of -4 mag, one of -3 mag. @ThePhotoHour pic.twitter.com/rbU45Npm5QAugust 13, 2022
Mag -4.8 #Perseid #fireball I saw last night from #Oxfordshire Was spotted on our NW #meteorcamera Ionization trail was amazing (will share below!) Canon 1100D + 18-55mm lens 8 sec ISO-800 f/ 3.5 #PerseidMeteorShower #Meteoros #Perseids2022 pic.twitter.com/lv2cbkcDsMAugust 13, 2022
Another #Perseid #IonizationTrail this time at 23:54 BST 11th August 2022. Taken from #Oxfordshire UK with Canon 1100D #PerseidMeteorShower #Meteors #Perseids2022 pic.twitter.com/m1ruM4kSTKAugust 12, 2022
Two #Perseid #Meteorites on 2 different DSLRs, both just before 22:30 BST on 11th August 2022. These are 2 of the 6 #Perseids I got on camera last night #Perseids2022 #PerseidMeteorShower pic.twitter.com/L1CB0IM31vAugust 12, 2022
Wider focus last night #perseid #meteors with the second 📷 Good FOV, albeit less detail. 2 Cameras planned tonight, wide and not so 👌EM-1 mk3, 8mm pro F1.8, ISO320, 15s x 5hrs in live composite mode @VirtualAstro @OMSYSTEMcameras pic.twitter.com/4hiJh6iS6MAugust 12, 2022
The Perseid meteor shower occurs each year in mid-August as Earth passes through the dusty trail of the Comet Swift–Tuttle. When those cometary fragments crash into Earth’s atmosphere, they can generate bright contrails as they streak across the sky. They seem to radiate from the Perseus Constellationhence its name.
The next big meteor shower of 2022 will be the orionid meteor shower in October. That rain will peak on October 1. 20 and 21, but its period of activity extends from September 1. 26 to November 22. It is caused by the remains of Halley comet as the Earth passes through that path.
Check out our guide to best meteor showers of the year to prepare for your next stargazing experience.
Publisher’s note: If you take an amazing photo of a Perseid meteor or any other view of the night sky and would like to share it with Space.com for a story or image gallery, please send images, comments and location information to spacephotos@space.com.
Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@espacio.com (opens in a new tab) or follow him @tariqjmalik (opens in a new tab). follow us @Spacepointcom (opens in a new tab), FaCebook (opens in a new tab) Y Instagram (opens in a new tab).
