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Perseid Meteor Shower

The Perseid Meteor Shower is a prolific annual meteor shower caused when Earth passes through the debris stream left by Comet 109P/Swift‑Tuttle. Active from mid‑July to late August, it peaks around August 12–13, producing up to ~50–100 meteors per hour under dark skies—many bright and fast enough to leave colorful wakes.

Source: science.nasa.gov

APODs including "Perseid Meteor Shower"

Meteor before Galaxy

06/08/2025

Meteor before Galaxy
Image Credit: Fritz Helmut Hemmerich / NASA APOD

What's that green streak in front of the Andromeda galaxy? A meteor. While photographing the Andromeda galaxy in 2016, near the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower, a small pebble from deep space crossed right in front of our Milky Way Galaxy's far-distant companion. The small meteor took only a fraction of a second to pass through this 10-degree field. The meteor flared several times while braking violently upon entering Earth's atmosphere. The green color was created, at least in part, by the meteor's gas glowing as it vaporized. Although the exposure was timed to catch a Perseid meteor, the orientation of the imaged streak seems a better match to a meteor from the Southern Delta Aquariids, a meteor shower that peaked a few weeks earlier. Not coincidentally, the Perseid Meteor Shower peaks next week, although this year the meteors will have to outshine a sky brightened by a nearly full moon.