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Perseid meteor shower is set to start on 23 July this year, peaking from 12-13 to 22 August, Armenia’s Byurakan Observatory told Panorama.am.

They are called Perseids since the radiant (the area of the sky where the meteors seem to originate) is located in the direction of the prominent constellation of Perseus.

At the peak of shower, 60 to 100 meteors per hour can be seen streaming across the sky, which is one of the most active meteor showers in a year, the observatory said.

Accord to astronomists, meteors can be seen across the sky every day, however their number increases sharply during showers, with all the meteors radiating from the same point of the sky. Up to 1,000 ‘shooting stars’ may be visible during strong meteor showers.

Around 20 meteor showers can be observed in a normal year, with Quadrantids, Leonids and Geminids being the most powerful annual showers.