2020 Perseid meteor shower photos shine bright in a dark year

The 2020 Perseid meteor shower peaked the evening of Aug. 11 into the morning of Aug. 12, but it will be active until Aug. 24 and continues to send astrophotographers out into the night to see what they can capture, often with remarkable results. 

This lively shot was captured from Quebec. A lone Perseid plays sidekick to the vibrant Milky Way. 

Canadian photographer Dave Bremner caught this moody image of at least three meteors, the Milky Way, a low-flying aircraft and a communications tower. 

This image is a composite of two photos by photographer Bill Dennis from a time lapse sequence above Bedforshire, UK that caught a bright Perseid.

Photographer Jon Bretan caught a meteor amid an eerie glow. 

Steve Brown grabbed this magnificent time-lapse of star trails during the Perseid meteor shower.

Photographer Harry Taylor created this composite of several Perseid meteor images from north Cave Creek, AZ.

UK photographer Tom Lee captured over 1,000 images in one night chasing a great Perseid pic. This turned out to be the best.

Peter Humphreys, a photographer based in Cambridge in the UK, grabbed this twilight image of a few meteors. If you look hard enough, you may also be able to spot a few SpaceX Starlink satellite trails, a new feature in many Perseid photos this year. 

Eliot Herman snagged this shot of a pre-dawn Perseid dashing behind the foothills near Tucson, Arizona. 

Virginia-based photographer Jason Betzner was lucky enough to capture what looks like a bright Perseid fireball on the shower's peak night. 

This image from Latvia features a few Perseids, the Milky Way, Jupiter and Saturn all in the frame.  

This Perseid fireball was seen over a lake in Ontario around dusk.

"It was hot and muggy even after the sun went down, with lots of haze on the horizon but this Perseid was so bright it didn't matter," photographer Malcolm Park said.

Meteor shower season brings famous time-lapse shots of star trails crossed by streaking meteors. This one from Michigan is about as trippy as they come, captured over a two-hour period above Lake Huron. 

"Mars is in the lower right with reflection on Lake Huron," explains photographer Samer Hariri. 
"A red moon is rising on the horizon of the lake. There is a smeared Milky Way, Capella rising as well with its reflection in the lake, cars driving south and the lights from cities on the Canadian side of things." 

Another Perseid traverses the Milky Way, this time seen by photographer Sheldon Emberly.

If you have a Perseid shot you're particularly proud of, please share with me on Twitter @EricCMack.