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A peek at Perseids' meteoric peak (pictures)

Stargazers and photographers alike came out Monday for the climax of the annual meteor shower.

James Martin
James Martin is the Managing Editor of Photography at CNET. His photos capture technology's impact on society - from the widening wealth gap in San Francisco, to the European refugee crisis and Rwanda's efforts to improve health care. From the technology pioneers of Google and Facebook, photographing Apple's Steve Jobs and Tim Cook, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Google's Sundar Pichai, to the most groundbreaking launches at Apple and NASA, his is a dream job for any documentary photography and journalist with a love for technology. Exhibited widely, syndicated and reprinted thousands of times over the years, James follows the people and places behind the technology changing our world, bringing their stories and ideas to life.
James Martin
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1 of 9 Marcus Lu

Showers over Germany

Monday night saw the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower, so named because the meteors -- sometimes 100 visible per hour -- appear to radiate from the constellation Perseus in the northeastern sky as the Earth passes through Swift-Tuttle's debris field.

Traveling at tens of thousands of miles an hour, the meteoroids burn up as they enter Earth's upper atmosphere, leaving beautiful trails in the sky. The light show is more prominent in the Northern Hemisphere and only somewhat visible in the Southern.

This digitally stacked image contains many photographs shot by Marcus Lu on Monday from Germany.

Click on for more photos of Perseid's peak from vantage points around the globe.

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2 of 9 Andrei Juravle

Timisoara, Romania

Photographer Andrei Juravle in Timisoara, Romania, writes, "Was out all last night (Monday) to observe the Perseid Meteor Shower (one night before the maximum). In four hours of observing I counted 133 meteors and managed to capture some too. In this image a total of six meteors (two are very faint). This image is a composite of 6 pictures stacked. Each picture taken with a Canon 550D, @18mm, 30s Exposure, at ISO 3200."
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3 of 9 Les Hunt

England

Perseid meteor shower as seen Monday from England, by photographer Les Hunt. Settings: 30 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 14 mm lens.
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4 of 9 Laura Hartley Photography

Yorkshire, England

A view of the Perseids above Silsden in West Yorkshire, England taken Monday by Laura Hartley.
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5 of 9 Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images

Potsurnentsi, Bulgaria

A long exposure image showing a Perseids meteor in the night sky Monday over St. Ioan, a medieval church near the village of Potsurnentsi, Bulgaria.
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6 of 9 Ye Aung Thu/AFP/Getty Images

Yangon, Myanmar

People wait to catch a glimpse of shooting stars during the Perseid meteor shower Monday in Yangon, Myanmar.
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7 of 9 Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Holmes Chapel, U.K.

A Perseid meteor streaks across the sky past the light trail of an aircraft over the Lovell Radio Telescope at Jodrell Bank on Tuesday in Holmes Chapel, United Kingdom.
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8 of 9 Steve Gifford

Haubstadt, Ind.

Steve Gifford, of Haubstadt, Ind., says that one of the brightest meteors he saw during this year's Perseid meteor shower emitted several bright flashes as it streaked through the sky, leaving a smoke trail which lingered for 10 to 15 seconds afterwards. He took this shot Monday.
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9 of 9 Sergio Garcia Rill

McDonald Observatory, Texas

A very bright fireball from the Perseid meteor shower, photographed Monday by Sergio Garcia Rill, along with the Otto Struve Telescope from the McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis, Texas.

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