Uploads from Dr. Becky

Currently Playing: How to watch the best meteor shower of the year! #shorts

The fact that the Perseids Meteor Shower 2026 is the same evening as the sunset eclipse, I just don’t think there’s a better night this year to take a picnic somewhere in the countryside, maybe as a date night or a family night, or with a group of friends, and just enjoy the wonders of the night sky. 12th August 2026 is the peak of the Perseids, which are visible wherever you are in the world. Plus we have perfect conditions for viewing the shooting stars of the Perseids this year, because the sky will be really dark on the peak of the shower, because the Moon will be a New Moon because we’ve had an eclipse earlier that same day! The best thing about meteor showers is that you do not need any equipment to watch the shooting stars, just a bit of time for your eyes to adjust to the dark. Now for the Perseids the best direction to look is just directly up. But it can get uncomfortable craning your neck up to look at the sky though, so I always recommend lying down for a meteor shower. The shower will be active from 17th July to the 24th August, but the peak on the 12th is when the most meteors will shoot across the sky. It’s hard to predict just how many there’ll be but in the darkest skies away from light pollution there could be anywhere from 100-150 meteors per hour, that’s around 2 shooting stars per minute! The Perseids are caused by tiny lumps of rock left behind by the comet Swift-Tuttle on its 133 year orbit around the Sun. Earth passes through this rubble every year in August, and we see those lumps of rock burn up in the atmosphere as shooting stars. The shooting stars are very quick though, so if you blink or happen to be looking in the wrong direction, you might miss one. So meteor spotting is a really fun activity to do with friends and family. The more people, the more meteors you’ll spot together! Video filmed on a Sony ⍺7 IV Video edited by Martino Gasparrini: martino.freelance@gmail.com Video produced by Marina Hui & Dr Becky Smethurst --- 📚 My book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, paperback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://lnk.to/DrBecky --- 👕 My merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): https://dr-becky.teemill.com/ --- 🎧 Royal Astronomical Society Podcast that I co-host: podfollow.com/supermassive --- 🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video! --- 👩🏽‍💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford. I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars. http://drbecky.uk.com