Perseid meteor shower: Dubai Astronomy Group warns stargazers away from Al Khatim Desert

Dubai: With the Perseid meteor shower peaking tomorrow, Dubai Astronomy Group has issued a notice about one of the sites people often head to.

Al Khatim Desert, in Abu Dhabi, is not recommended for independent stargazing. Most of it is private land, and visiting on your own is not permitted.

The exception is organised events. If you are attending an authorised experience run by a tourism company, or one of the group's own astronomy nights at a designated camp, you are fine. Turning up alone with a flask and a camping chair is a different matter.

"For your safety and to respect private property, please only visit authorised stargazing locations," the group said, naming Al Quaa Desert and Al Qudra Desert as the alternatives.

Where to go instead

Al Quaa Desert, Abu Dhabi: roughly two hours from Dubai, one of the darkest accessible sites in the country

Al Qudra Desert, Dubai: about an hour from the city and the easiest option for anyone not wanting a long drive

What you are looking for tomorrow

The Perseids peak overnight from Thursday into the early hours of Friday, and this year is a good one.

The peak coincides with a new moon, which means no moonlight washing out the fainter streaks. Sky-tracking sites call it the best moon conditions for the Perseids since 2018. Rates could reach up to 100 meteors an hour under genuinely dark skies, with NASA's working estimate at 50 to 100 depending on conditions.

The debris comes from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, which last passed through the inner solar system in 1992 and will not return until 2126. Earth crosses the trail it left behind every August, which is why the shower is so reliable.

The particles themselves are tiny, mostly no bigger than a grain of sand, and they hit the atmosphere at around 59 kilometres per second. What you see is the trail of superheated air rather than the object itself.

Best viewing is between midnight and 4am. Give your eyes half an hour to adjust, lie back and take in as much sky as possible rather than staring at one spot.