＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49) on X
Have you ever actually seen a shooting star? I remember seeing one by chance once when I was a child, and thinking, “Ah, a star is falling!” It was just a fleeting moment.
By the way, the Perseid meteor shower is famous for being able to reliably see many shooting stars every year.
So today, I’d like to give you an easy-to-understand introduction to the Perseid meteor shower.
1. How to enjoy the Perseid meteor shower
(1) Best Viewing Dates, Directions, and Locations
The meteor showers appear every year from around July 20th to August 20th, reaching their peak (best viewing) from August 11th to August 13th.
The peak will be on the night of August 12th, when the moon will be just past the waning quarter moon. However, on a clear day, up to 40 shooting stars can be seen in an hour, mainly in the northeastern sky.
According to the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, the meteor shower will be most active from around 9:00 PM to just before sunrise the following morning.
Shooting stars will radiate from the constellation Perseus, which rises in the northeastern sky, and can appear anywhere in the night sky.
There’s no need to worry about the direction. Just look at the entire night sky.
For best viewing, choose an open area away from streetlights and moonlight, and observe for at least 15 minutes until your eyes adjust to the darkness.
(2) Asahi Shimbun Live Streaming
Asahi Shimbun is broadcasting the meteor shower from a live camera installed at the University of Tokyo’s Kiso Observatory in Nagano Prefecture. If you’d like to enjoy the Perseid meteor shower from your smartphone or computer, please do so. You can watch it on the YouTube page of “Asahi Shimbun Live Streaming.”
(3) History of the Perseid Meteor Shower
The earliest recorded observation of the Perseid meteor shower dates back to 36 AD, when more than 100 meteors were observed per hour.
The meteor shower’s existence was first discovered in 1837. By the 19th century, there were at least 20 recorded occurrences, and it was particularly observed in China and Japan in 1862, when Comet Swift-Tuttle was discovered.
2. What is the Perseid Meteor Shower?
This meteor shower is one of the “three major meteor showers,” along with the Quadrantids and Geminids, and appears with its radiant point near the star Gamma Perseus.
Its peak occurs just before Obon, coinciding with the summer vacation period, making it a meteor shower that many people can easily spot.
Its parent body is Comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the Sun every 130 years.
3. The Difference Between a “Meteor” and a “Comet”
While both produce luminous tails, a “meteor” is a phenomenon in which cosmic dust emits light, while a “comet” is a small celestial body in the solar system.
A “comet” (comet) is a small celestial body in the solar system composed of ice mixed with solid particles, and is also known as a “dirty snowball.” As it approaches the Sun, the heat melts the ice, and the gas and particles released from its surface reflect the sunlight, making it appear to glow.
Tails are formed when they are blown by the solar wind, so they extend in the opposite direction from the Sun, regardless of their direction of travel.
Meteors are cosmic dust particles that enter the Earth’s atmosphere at high speeds, and the friction caused by this makes them appear to glow.
Meteors also leave tails that shine, but they begin to glow at an altitude of around 100 km, and many burn up at around 70 km, so they only appear to glow for a moment when viewed from the Earth.
Also, because they are burning as they approach the Earth, meteor tails extend behind their direction of travel.