Explanation: Where do Perseid meteors come from? Mostly small bits of stony grit, Perseid meteoroids were once expelled from Comet Swift-Tuttle and continue to follow this comet's orbit as they slowly disperse. The featured animation depicts the entire meteoroid stream as it orbits our Sun. When the Earth nears this stream, as it does every year, the Perseid Meteor Shower occurs. Highlighted as bright in the animation, comet debris this size is usually so dim it is practically undetectable. Only a small fraction of this debris will enter the Earth's atmosphere, heat up and disintegrate brightly. Tonight and the next few nights promise some of the better skies to view the Perseid shower as well as other active showers because the first quarter moon will be absent from the sky from midnight onward.

Your Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (post 1995)

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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.

Publikacii s klyuchevymi slovami: Perseids - Perseidy Publikacii so slovami: Perseids - Perseidy
Sm. takzhe: Perseidy nad Vnutrennei Mongoliei Severnyi meteor Pozdnyaya noch' v Vallentune Meteory i severnoe siyanie nad Germaniei Perseidy nad Stounhendzhem Meteor iz potoka Perseid vnizu Meteory vdol' Mlechnogo Puti Vse publikacii na tu zhe temu >>