The newly released Perseid video shows meteors captured from July 26 through today by NASA’s All Sky Fireball Network, a system of 15 cameras scattered throughout the country. At times multiple meteors would appear across the starry sky some so low that it lit up the ground around me. That’s twice as many meteors as a normal meteor shower! Beginning at 10 p.m. ET Thursday, NASA will kick off an overnight livestream video.
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The meteor shower is caused when debris from this Swift-Tuttle comet crosses pass with Earth and flies into our atmosphere.
The Perseid meteor shower is comprised of the fragments from a comet named Swift-Tuttle.
For stargazers experiencing cloudy or light-polluted skies, a live broadcast of the Perseid meteor shower will be available via Ustream overnight on August 11-12 and August 12-13, beginning at 9 p.m. The darker the sky, the better the chance to see meteors. Diehard stargazers could head inland to get a better view. The meteors do not pose a threat to us on Earth as they burn up about 50 miles above the ground.
-The best direction to look is wherever your sky is darkest, probably straight up. This year stargazers can expect to see almost twice as many meteors, in part, because Jupiter passed through the trail creating an increase in debris and dust.
“Under ideal conditions, rates could soar to 200 meteors per hour”, Cooke said.
The last time we had Perseid outbursts like this was 2009, so make the most of it. Just get away from as much city light as you can (not too hard for us in Arizona!). The reason they are called the Perseids is because they seem to radiate from the constellation Perseus.
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Look to the northeast and you could see a meteor shower tonight and Friday night. Friday night into Saturday could also be very good for seeing shooting stars.
