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The annual Perseid meteor shower, considered “the best meteor shower of the year,” according to NASA, will begin to light up the night sky on Wednesday, July 14.
Although the Perseids are active until August 24, the show will peak in mid-August, particularly August 11, 12, and 13, when up to 100 meteors will become visible per hour. The celestial phenomenon, which is aptly named after the constellation of Perseus, where its stream of shooting stars seems to come from, will still be visible from this week.
The meteor shower is a product of the interaction of the Earth’s atmosphere with space debris from a comet named 109P / Swift-Tuttle, discovered in 1862 by Lewis Swift and Horace Tuttle. 109P / Swift-Tutte, which last visited the inner solar system in 1992, takes 133 years to orbit the Sun. The Perseids are also known for their impressive fireballs, which explode from larger particles of cometary material with long-lasting streaks of colored light.
The show is best watched from the northern hemisphere before dawn, after 2 a.m., although during peak hours it is possible to see the meteor shower as early as 10 p.m. Meteors are usually most visible in locations far from city lights which can potentially drown out the magnitude of shooting stars.
If you’re not in a suitable location to watch the Perseids, NASA is preparing to broadcast the celestial event live on its Meteor Watch Facebook page. The virtual telescope project will also provide live meteor shower coverage.
After the Perseids, the next meteor shower will not come until the Orionids claim the night sky in October.
Elsewhere in space, a new study suggests that the methane in Saturn’s moon plumes could be a sign of alien life.
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