Every August, Earth crosses the orbit of Comet Swift-Tuttle as it orbits the Sun. Here, close to the sun, it has lost a number of fragments over the years – and when these then burn up in the earth’s atmosphere, we see shooting stars.

Where does the name come from?

Shooting stars that emerge from such a debris field on the Earth’s orbit appear to the observer on Earth to have their origin in a single point in the sky. This is a similar effect to driving a car through snowflakes in winter. Here, too, the flakes seem to come from exactly one point in the direction of travel in front of the windscreen.

The earth is heading towards the constellation Perseus during the days when the comet’s orbit is being traversed. Hence there is the effect that the orbits of the shooting stars all seem to have their origin in this constellation. And hence their name: “Perseids”.

Where can you find them?

The constellation Perseus can be located quite easily after midnight: high in the southeast you can find a rhombus of four bright stars, the so-called autumn quadrilateral in the constellation Pegasus. Extending horizontally from the left star of this diamond is a chain of brighter stars further to the left (the constellation Andromeda), which at its left end meets a vertical arc of stars forming the constellation Perseus.

Incidentally, the Perseids are also known as the “Tears of Lawrence,” named after the 3rd-century Christian martyr Lawrence, who was cremated in Rome on August 10, right at the beginning of the meteor shower’s maximum. However, the first documented observations of the Perseids come from China, and at 2000 years are even a little older than the Laurentius legend.

What to expect

The year 2022 is a normal year for the Perseids: At the time of the maximum on the night of August 12th to 13th, up to 100 shooting stars per hour are expected. Viewed soberly, however, this means the following:

• “Up to 100” is a maximum value. There is no guarantee that this will be achieved.
• Of the (maximum) 100 shooting stars, half fall on the other side of the earth, so we can’t see them at all.
• And if you then spread the remaining 50 out over the hour, you average less than one shooting star per minute. And even then you can see 3 or 4 shooting stars in a short period of time, and then not a single one for a few minutes.

So, before you get too disappointed, you should say goodbye to the image of a continuous “rain” of shooting stars. But what you can expect is that if you watch the sky for a longer period of time (at least 15 minutes) you will see a handful of shooting stars.

When can the Perseids be observed?

“The maximum is expected in the night of August 12th to 13th” is what they say for 2022. However, this does not mean that the Perseids can only be observed on this night. There are already many Perseids on the move every night, and then there will be more from night to night, with the maximum around August 12th. After that, however, the number per night decreases rapidly, and it will be difficult to see another Perseid shooting star after August 16th.

But that also means that you don’t necessarily have to be there on 13.8. have to go out for observation in the early hours of the morning. A few nights earlier or a night or two later you still have the chance. This year it is advisable to go hunting as early as possible, as the waxing moon is still quite low at the moment. From the full moon on August 12th, unfortunately exactly at the maximum, the moon rises higher and higher in the course of the following nights, and then it no longer sets before sunrise. And an almost full moon that outshines the sky is one of the biggest obstacles in shooting star hunting.

By the way, the ideal time for observing the Perseids is between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. This is the time when we look in the direction of travel from our location on Earth without the sun already interfering with the observation.

And how can I photograph them?

Anyone who has ever seen a shooting star will probably remember it well: a glowing object, bright as a star, that darted across half the sky in a fraction of a second and disappeared as quickly as it appeared. Something completely different than an airplane slowly blinking by, or a satellite also slowly traversing the sky with a steady light. For the photographer, this means two things in particular:

• The shooting stars do not occur in a narrowly limited area around the constellation Perseus, rather you have to cover a large area of ​​the sky with the camera. So use a wide-angle lens if possible, and point the camera high in the sky to the east, possibly with the constellation Perseus in the lower left corner. This covers the largest area where shooting stars can be expected.

• Shooting stars are fast. With long exposure times you have more chances of catching one or more shooting stars. So it is best to set the aperture and exposure time so that you can expose as long as possible without the sky getting too bright in the pictures. But be careful: Don’t close the aperture too much, otherwise the shooting stars may be too faint.

As a starting point I recommend ISO 400, f/4 and shutter speeds of 1 minute or more, but this is very camera and lens dependent so try a few shots beforehand. And if you have a Skytracker or a Pentax with Astrotracer: Turn on this tracking. And with a little luck you will have one or more shooting stars in the picture.

A good tip last

Photographing star scales is a matter of luck. Nobody knows when and where a shooting star will come down, and with a bit of bad luck, a night’s haul is very meager. But if you settle down on a lounge chair in the garden, have the camera on a tripod by you and just watch the sky while the recording is in progress, you can enjoy all the action without stress. And if you see a shooting star, don’t forget to make a wish.

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