A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are seen raditating the night sky. Most meteors are smaller than a grain of sand, and almost all of them disintegrate and never hit Earth's surface.
The "Perseids Meteor Shower" will peak this week - with the best viewing starting tonight, August 9th. The Perseid meteor shower, is an annual display of shooting stars in the Northern Hemisphere; this shower is caused by debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle and has been observed for over 2000 years. This meteor shower is one of the best, especially in the absence of moonlight; where it has been recorded as having over 100 or more meteors per hour.
Just before the dawn very late tonight or early Wednesday morning, the Perseids could give the best view. If we are blessed with clear skies, the predawn hour will be that very rare window of opportunity to view the showers with the naked eye because of the dark, moonless skies. August 10th and 11th predawn hour will also be a good opportunity to watch the spectacle of lights!
The Perseids are typically fast, bright and occasionally leave lingering trains. A Perseids fireball would sporadically blaze up brightly to add to the light show in the predawn hour.
Source information and picture obtained from and compliments of EarthSky.com and NASA.com
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