When is the 2025 Perseid meteor shower?
The Perseids run from 17 July to 24 August, with the peak of activity falling on the night of 12/13 August.
This is when you could expect to see the most meteors, but if clouds or your schedule mean you can’t meteor watch on the peak, then you should be able to see a good show any time between 9-15 August.
The Perseids (a Rain of Stars) will be at their best from midnight until the hour or so before dawn. If that’s too late (or early) for you, you should still be able to see some meteors in the evening.
The Perseids have what’s known as a zenithal hourly rate (ZHR) of 100 to 150 meteors per hour, but that doesn’t quite mean you’ll see that many raining stars.
———————————————————————————————————————
The Myth behind the Perseids:
Many years ago, there was a beautiful princess named
Danae who lived in the city of Argos of a country named
Greece. She was the daughter of King Acrisius, although
she was not his wife Queen Eurydice’s biological child.
Instead, Danae was the result of an extramarital affair
and was given to the Queen to raise by her true mother,
the naiad Aganippe.
Aganippe resided in the Mount Helicon region
of Boeotia. An area assigned to her by her father, the
river god Permessus, to protect. She lived near a magical
spring at the base of the mountain named after her—the
Aganippe Spring. From the spring gushed “sweet waters of inspiration”
of poetry, music, and the arts. And those who visited the spring to bathe and drink from it found themselves speaking in rhymes.
King Acrisius was fraught with distraught for he
was unable to father a son to succeed him on the throne.
In his despair, he journeyed to Delphi to consult with the
oracle on what to do.
The oracle’s reply was: “Not only will you not attain
a son, but you are also destined to be killed by your own
grandson.”
Interpreting the prophecy to mean that Danae’s
unborn son would bring about his demise, the king was
greatly troubled. He knew that harming Danae would
incur the wrath of Aganippe, whose name meant “the
mare who kills mercifully.”
He called in his top advisors, to consult with them
on what to do, but they were of no help.
After giving it a lot of thought, the king came up
with an idea. He commanded the construction of a
magnificent tower in the palace courtyard to house the
young princess.
The tower was designed to fill all the princess’s
needs, but there was a catch. The tower lacked doors
and windows, with only one opening at the rooftop. An
opening to the sky.
Aganippe was infuriated upon learning that her
daughter had been imprisoned in a tower. She imme-
diately sought out the god Zeus and begged for his
assistance. Zeus agreed to help.
The princess was crying herself to sleep, as she did every
night, when she suddenly felt something strange. She
opened her eyes to see that the sky was not dark as usual;
instead, it was filled with golden stars. As she admired
them, the stars transformed into a shower of gold that
streamed through the sky opening.
It was Zeus himself. He came to Danae in the form of
golden rain and impregnated her without her knowledge.
It was the moment Perseus was divinely conceived—
“under a rain of stars.”
Excerpt from the second book of the Peloponnese series, “Artemis Child - a Rain of Stars”
Author’s website: https://dianeioannou.com