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Credit & Copyright: Marcin Rosadzieski
Explanation:
Where are all of these meteors coming from?
In terms of direction on the sky, the pointed answer is the
constellation of Perseus.
That is why the meteor shower that peaks tonight is known as the
Perseids -- the
meteors
all appear to come from a
radiant toward Perseus.
In terms of parent body, though, the
sand-sized debris
that makes up the
Perseids meteors come from Comet Swift-Tuttle.
The comet follows a
well-defined orbit around our Sun,
and the part of the orbit that
approaches Earth is superposed in front of Perseus.
Therefore, when Earth crosses this orbit, the
radiant point of falling debris appears in Perseus.
Featured here, a composite image taken over six nights and
containing over 100 meteors from 2024 August
Perseids meteor shower shows many
bright meteors that
streaked over the
Bieszczady Mountains in
Poland.
This year's
Perseids, usually one of the
best meteor showers of the year,
will compete with a bright moon that
will rise, for many locations, soon
after sunset.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Perseids - meteor shower
Publications with words: Perseids - meteor shower
See also:
- APOD: 2025 August 3 B Milky Way and Exploding Meteor
- APOD: 2025 August 2 B Fireflies, Meteors, and Milky Way
- APOD: 2025 July 25 B Twelve Years of Kappa Cygnids
- APOD: 2024 December 10 B The Great Meteor Storm of 1833
- APOD: 2024 August 12 B Perseid Meteors over Stonehenge
- APOD: 2024 August 11 B Animation: Perseid Meteor Shower
- A Perseid Below