Night of shooting stars to follow Typhoon Khanun

The Perseids meteor shower is observed from Cheonan Hong Dae Yong Science Museum in Cheonan, South Chungcheong, in 2017. [NEWS1]

Take time to gaze into the night sky for a space show after Typhoon Khanun passes.

The Gwacheon National Science Museum on Wednesday announced it will be streaming this year’s Perseid meteor shower live on its YouTube channel at 10 p.m. on Sunday.

The meteor shower will peak between Sunday evening and Monday morning. Stargazers may spot up to 90 meteors per hour at the peak.

The Perseids are one of the three richest meteor showers observed annually, along with the Quadrantids in January and the Geminids in December.

This year’s Perseid shooting stars will be brighter than usual since moonlight will be dim with the moon entering its waning crescent phase.

The science museum in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, will also broadcast a live video of the night sky event from the Center of Korea Observatory in Yanggu County, Gangwon, one of the best observation spots in the country.

A meteor shower occurs when Earth passes through the path of a comet or asteroid and their debris bits create streaks of light in the night sky as they burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.

The Perseid meteor shower is observed when Earth passes through the debris trails of Comet Swift-Tuttle — a comet with an orbital period of 133 years. It came closest to Earth in 1992 and will again in 2126.

“I hope people could cool off from the summer heat making wishes upon the shooting stars,” Gwacheon National Science Museum President Han Hyeong-ju said.

BY SOHN DONG-JOO [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]