CORPUS CHRISTI, TX — The Perseid Meteor shower is considered the brightest and most dense meteor shower of the year. On a good night in ideal conditions, one may see between 50 and 100 meteors per hour.
It's actually quite a spectacle and well worth either staying up late or getting up early. Just get away...far away...from city lights and don't use your cell phone. You want your eyes to adjust to the darkness. The best viewing time will be between 3 and 5 a.m.
What causes meteor showers, and the Perseid shower, in particular? You can thank comets. In the case of the Perseids (named because they appear to emanate from the constellation Perseus, the Swan), the meteors are essentially debris left in the trail of the large comet Swift-Tuttle.
That 16-mile diameter comet was originally discovered independently in July 1862 by astronomers Lewis A. Swift and Horace Parnell Tuttle. During its 133-year trip around the Sun it leaves a trail of debris which the Earth passes through annually in mid-August.
The comet's next approach to the inner planets will be in 2125.
Virtually all meteors are about the size of grains of sand or small pebbles and burn up in our atmosphere. The few that impact the ground are called meteorites. Take time tonight to see a great show!