Forget the eclipse for a moment: Perseid meteor shower set to peak tonight
Source: CBC News
Updated: Aug 12, 2017 5:49 PM ET
With all the talk about the coming solar eclipse, the Perseid meteor shower one of the year's best has been left in the dust. But it's time to forget about the sun for a while and focus on "shooting stars."
Though we can see meteors on any given night, almost every month we're treated to a significant meteor shower. We get these as Earth plows through the debris left over from passing comets. As small cometary debris enters our atmosphere, it burns up briefly, appearing as bright streaks in the sky.
In the case of the Perseids, Earth is whizzing through particles left over from Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, which last passed us in 1992.
The meteor shower has already begun, as it runs from mid-July to the end of August each year. But as we near the peak, which occurs on Saturday, the number of meteors per hour increases. On the peak night, you may see as many as 50 to 100 meteors per hour in a dark-sky location.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/perseid-meteor-shower-peak-1.4231217
Shooting stars, not nuclear missiles. Relax and enjoy, though the Moon will prevent you from seeing a lot of them.
sinkingfeeling
(51,278 posts)Glorfindel
(9,706 posts)I would dearly love to see the Perseids, but current weather conditions make it impossible here in the north Georgia mountains.
GentryDixon
(2,944 posts)I saw two streak overhead as I was waiting for him to sniff the perfect place to pee.
I'll be going back out around midnight to see more.😃