Perseid meteor shower nearing visibility window for Long Island

The Perseids, a celestial display that’s often thought of each year as the ultimate meteor shower, is approaching its prime observational window this week, scientists said.

The spectacle may bring roughly 50 to 100 meteors visible per hour across the Long Island sky, with peak views Wednesday overnight into Thursday, according to NASA. Perseids also features fireballs, which are "larger explosions of light and color" that stay visible longer than the typical meteor.

Heightening the cosmic awe, a total solar eclipse, when the moon passes before the sun, will be visible from parts of Europe and the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday, NASA said. Meanwhile, the area from North Carolina to Alaska, including Long Island, will see a partial eclipse.

The meteor shower viewing experience from Long Island could be dimmed by some cloud cover, meteorologists said, but should still be visible, particularly in Suffolk County.

"It's just a matter of whether or not we have any residual cloud cover from any showers," said Brian Ciemnecki, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Named for their closeness to the Perseus constellation, the Perseid showers occur between July 17 and Aug. 24, according to the American Meteor Society. The showers' occurrence during the warmer months of the year typically brings about more spectators, researchers said.

Meteors form after comets loop around the Sun, leaving behind debris that the Earth travels through, according to NASA. The cosmic dust hits Earth’s atmosphere, shatters, and creates the shooting stars.

Meteors are common and typically can be observed several times an hour every night, government researchers said. Meteor showers, then, are an uptick in the rate.

The Perseids come from a comet called 109P/Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the sun roughly every 130 years, scientists said.

The Northern Hemisphere offers better views of the meteor shower, though it still may be partially visible in the southern half of the Earth, according to The Planetary Society, a nonprofit focused on space exploration and research.

"The best way to watch a meteor shower is from a dark sky site, so it helps to get away from city lights as much as you can," The Planetary Society said on its website. "Skywatchers should go to the darkest place they can, let their eyes adjust, and look overhead — but avoid staring directly at the Moon."

By Tiffany Cusaac-Smith

tiffany.cusaac-smith@newsday.com@T_Cusaac

Tiffany Cusaac-Smith is a general assignment reporter for Newsday. She previously worked at USA TODAY and is an alum of Howard University.