Smoky air shouldn't stop brilliant meteor shower

Star gazers across Manitoba can enjoy the Perseid meteor shower this week despite the recent forest fires. 

"Every year from around mid-July to late August we plow through a debris field left by a comet named Swift Tuttle. That comes around every 133 years," says Gord Tulloch, the Vice President of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Winnipeg Centre.

The rocks left in the comet's wake are what produce the bright meteor shower. The Swift Tuttle hasn't been around since 1992 and it won't be seen in our lifetime again.

"What we see are a whole bunch of meteors flashing through the sky. They tend to come in pretty quickly, at about 210,000 km/h. At its peak, we'll probably get 100 meteors an hour. That combined makes this a really good meteor show to go out and look at," says Tulloch.

As the meteors enter the earth's atmosphere at that speed, they burn up quickly before making it to the ground.

"The best time for us [in Manitoba] to look at it is after midnight when the moon goes down. What you want is to be somewhere where there are no city lights."

While the forest fires have been affecting Manitoba's air quality recently, it shouldn't affect people's view of the meteors according to Tulloch.

"We've had a lot of smoke. It will serve to reduce the number of meteors we see because the really faint ones will be blocked by the smoke but you should still see some of the brighter meteors, so it's not a total loss."

The Perseid meteor shower is said to last from August 11-13, with the highest number seen on Wednesday, August 11. 

"You don't need binoculars. Your best tool is probably a lawn chair and a blanket. Just remember that white light reduces your dark adaptions. You need about 15 minutes of darkness for your eyes to adapt so you can see most of what's happening in the sky."

Red cellophane over a flashlight will help minimize the white light effects. If people are clouded out, NASA will be live-streaming the meteor shower each of the days.