The annual Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak this weekend, sending bright trails of light streaking across the night sky. With only a sliver of moon in the sky, conditions this year will be ideal for seeing lots of meteors.
NEW YORK — The annual Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak this weekend, sending bright trails of light streaking across the night sky.
With only a sliver of moon in the sky, conditions this year will be ideal for seeing lots of meteors. “If you’ve got nice clear weather and a good dark sky, you go out just before dawn and you’ll see a Perseid per minute or so,” said NASA meteor scientist Bill Cooke. “That’s a pretty good show.”The Perseids — one of the biggest meteor showers we can see — occur every year in the late summer. Meteor showers happen when the Earth moves through fields of debris floating around in space.
The Perseids can appear anywhere in the sky. So just “lie on your back, look away from the moon and take in as much sky as you can,” Cooke said.The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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