The annual Perseid meteor shower will fill the night sky with light and vibrant colors from now until Aug. 24.
The shower is expected to …
The annual Perseid meteor shower will fill the night sky with light and vibrant colors from now until Aug.24. The shower is expected to peak around Aug.11 through 13, during which time up to 100 meteors an hour will shoot across the sky at 37 miles per second. Don’t miss this “best meteor shower of the year” — as described by NASA — featuring fast and bright meteors that can be easily viewed outside this summer. Perseid showers occur when Earth traverses through a trail of cosmic debris given off by 109PSwift-Tuttle — a comet that won’t return to the inner solar system until 2125, since it takes 133 years to orbit the sun. The meteors make the night sky shine because of their “fireballs.” Viewers will see larger and brighter explosions of light in the sky than in previous years, appearing for longer than a typical meteor streak. 109PSwift-Tuttle was discovered in 1862 by Lewis Swift and Horace Tuttle independently of one another. The comet’s nucleus is 16 miles across, which is about twice the size of the space rock thought to have killed many dinosaurs 66 million years ago, according to Live Science. According to NASA, fireballs occur when larger particles of space rock interact with Earth. Although the meteors will appear all over the sky, the meteors appear to radiate from the constellation Perseus, the 24th largest constellation. The fast and vibrant space rocks often leave behind long streaks of light and color. And this year during the peak, the moon will be waxing crescent with only 13% illumination, meaning that moonlight will not drown out the colorful array of lights. The Perseids come to town each year in mid-July and will continue this year through Aug.
