Coloradans can expect a “pretty good” meteor show this year, with 50 or more “shooting stars” visible per hour in dark locations and a few meteors per hour in urban areas, according to Doug Duncan, director of the University of Colorado-Boulder Fiske Planetarium.
The reliably intense meteor shower peaked early this morning. The show will continue for a week or more, with diminishing intensity.
The Perseid shower occurs when Earth crosses the path of Comet Swift-Tuttle, which is orbiting the sun.
Duncan said that when the comet nears the sun, parts of the comet melt and break off. The result is millions of chunks of ice and dust that make up the comet’s tail.
The chunks, most not much bigger than a grain of rice, burn up in Earth’s atmosphere and leave streaks of light called shooting stars.
“Meteorites are fascinating because they give us a sample of space further out than astronauts have been able to go,” Duncan said. “Every meteorite ever studied dates back to the very beginning of the solar system, 4.5 billion years ago.”
The Perseid shower is named for the constellation Perseus, from which the meteors appear to radiate.
