One of the most famous meteor showers, the Perseid, is making its annual journey through the skies over Central Oregon. Perseid meteors are unique in that they are very small (the size of a grain of sand or small pebble), very fast and very, very bright. The showers occur in August, making them easy to watch in warm weather and clear, dark skies. Under favorable conditions, the Perseids can produce around 50-100 meteors per hour, though the exact rate year to year can vary. The shower peaks on the night of Aug. 12 and into the morning of Aug. 13 but continues through Aug. 24.
The Source talked with Alex Yeager, assistant manager at the Sunriver Nature Center & Observatory, about the meteor shower. Yeager helps lead the nighttime and solar-viewing programs, operates and maintains the telescopes, trains SNCO staff and helps visitors understand what they are seeing, regardless of their experience level.
the Source: How did the Perseid Meteor Shower get its name?
Alex Yeager: Most meteor showers get their names from the constellation they appear to emerge from. If you traced all of the shooting stars in a meteor shower backward, they would appear to lead to a point in the constellation they are named after. So the Perseid meteor shower appears to originate from the constellation Perseus.
tS: What causes meteor showers and when do they occur?
AY: Meteor showers are caused by leftover particles from a celestial body, typically a comet, along its path around the Sun. This meteor shower comes from Comet Swift-Tuttle, which was last visible in 1992 and will not return until 2126. Earth passes through this trail of debris, and the particles collide with our atmosphere at extremely high speeds.
tS: How are Perseid meteors different from others, and where do they come from?
AY: Perseid meteors come from debris left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle. They enter Earth’s atmosphere at about 37 miles per second, making them some of the fastest meteors we see. Because of their speed, they often produce bright streaks and glowing trails that can linger briefly. Other meteor showers can come from different objects, including asteroid-like bodies such as 3200 Phaethon, which produces the Geminids in December.
tS: How many meteors can people typically see during the peak?
AY: Here in Central Oregon, you can expect to see 20 to 50 meteors per hour, with higher numbers the farther away from light pollution you go.
tS: What are the best conditions for seeing the meteor shower?
AY: You cannot beat this year’s viewing conditions. We will have a new moon, meaning the moon will not brighten the night sky. A full moon can drastically reduce the number of shooting stars you are able to see. In fact, the meteor shower this year occurs on the same day as a solar eclipse traveling across Europe.
tS: What common misconceptions do people have about meteor showers?
AY: People often expect to see multiple meteors per minute. There may be periods when you see a few in one minute, but especially if you are viewing from within a city, you should expect to see one every few minutes.
tS: What’s the best way to see the meteor shower?
AY: The best way to view a meteor shower is to lie on a blanket around midnight and look up.
tS: What excites you most about this event?
AY: This is typically one of the best meteor showers of the year, and the new moon makes this event one of the best opportunities for someone to see a shooting star.
tS: What would you like readers to know about this event and other happenings at SNCO?
AY: We have public programs Tuesday through Sunday, and tickets can be reserved at SNCO.org. We have also just started our Field Trip Fund for the 2026–27 school year. This fund provides field trip scholarships to schools that cannot afford to visit us.
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