Perseid Meteor Show

The Perseid meteor shower, one of the most active of the year, will peak between sunset on Tuesday, August 11th, and sun rise on Wednesday, August 12th. This is the result of the Earth passing through the tail of dust and ice left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle as it passes around the Sun. This material isn't stationary, but actually in orbit around the Sun, which is why each year the Earth hits some material. This year the Earth is expected to pass through a denser-than-usual filament of dust, so it should be even more active than normal - with a meteor rates possibly as high as 200 per hour. For more information on this event, read this NASA Science article and visit spaceweather.com. Lots of Astronomy clubs in the NY area are holding observing events, look at the calendar to the right to see if there are any convenient for you. Enjoy!

Also, if you take any pictures, I'd love to link to them from this site. Just leave the URLs in the comments section below.