The annual Perseid meteor shower peaks on Aug.11 and 12, 2013, filling the sky with streaks of light. The big meteor showers like the Perseids, and later the Leonids in November, are caused when Earth and its atmosphere travels through a region of the sky filled with left over debris lost by a particular comet. In the case of the Perseids, the small fragments were ripped off the tail of comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the sun once every 130 years.
Image Credit: NASA/MSFC/MEO
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| A shooting star in the early part of the Perseids shower burns in the atmosphere in this picture taken in Hungary on 11 August 2013. Photograph: Peter Komka/EPA |
Perseid Meteor Photos Gallery :
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