Perseid meteor showers: Sky show of the year approaches (pictures)
As they do each summer, the annual Perseid meteor showers are about to rain down, offering a spectacular sight for earthling sky gazers.
Techatticup Mine
As they do each summer, the annual Perseid meteor showers are about to rain down, offering a spectacular sight for earthling sky gazers. The display, known as the Perseid shower because the meteors appear to radiate from the constellation Perseus in the northeastern sky, is a result of Earth's orbit passing through debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the sun once every 133 years. But talk about luck -- bad luck in this case: the arrival of the Perseids coincides with the August full moon.
Still, you should be able to get a good glimpse at what has been a dazzling display for earthlings over the last couple of millennia. In this 2010 image, a Perseid meteor (upper left) streaks across the sky over a building at the Techatticup Mine in Eldorado Canyon, Nev.
Near Rogers Spring in Lake Mead
The Perseid shower got its name because it appears to radiate from the constellation Perseus in the northeastern sky. In this 2010 image a Perseid meteor streaks across the sky near Rogers Spring in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area of Nevada.
Passing satellite
By the evening of August 12, astronomers expect the Perseids will shoot across the sky at a rate of 50 to 80 meteors per hour. Your last chance to see the showers will come August 22.
In this 2010 image Perseid meteors fall as a satellite passes across the sky near Rogers Spring in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada.
Summer showers
The Perseid meteor shower regularly takes place each year in late July and early August.
Cook Bank building ruins
A Perseid meteor streaks across the sky over the ruins of the Cook Bank building in the ghost town of Rhyolite, Nev., in this 2010 image.
Rotbuehl, Switzerland
A meteor enters the Earth's atmosphere during the Perseid meteor shower in the northeastern village of Rotbuehl in Switzerland in this 2010 image.
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