For the 2026 Perseid meteor shower, about how long have most stream particles been in the cloud?

Most particles in the 2026 Perseid meteor stream have been in the cloud for about 1,000 years.

The Perseid cloud is a long stream of dust and fragments spread along Comet Swift–Tuttle’s orbit. The comet releases material during its repeated journeys around the Sun, and those particles remain distributed along the orbital path.

Not every part of the stream is equally old. The main population consists largely of particles that have circulated in the cloud for roughly a millennium, while younger filaments can produce temporary increases in activity.

This age does not mean the particles are sitting still. Their orbits continue to evolve under the gravitational influence of the Sun, Earth, Jupiter, and other bodies. Earth encounters a changing section of the stream each year.