1 of 27
Dark Skies
Credit: ESO/S. Guisard
Despite the Perseid meteor shower being more visible in the northern hemisphere, due to the path of Comet Swift-Tuttle's orbit, the shower was also spotted from the exceptionally dark skies over ESO's Paranal Observatory in Chile.
2 of 27
Perseid Meteor Shower 2010 Prediction
Credit: NASA/JPL
The 2010 Perseid meteor shower was predicted to experience peak activity August 12-13, 2010.
3 of 27
Summertime Balls of Fire
Credit: Koen Miskotte
Two Kappa Cygnids (top left corner) and a plethora of Perseids adorn this image of the northeastern summer sky by Koen Miskotte, the Netherlands, on August 12-13, 2007.
4 of 27
Strong Meteor Shower Expected
Credit: Brian Emfinger, used with permission (more photos: http://www.realclearwx.com).
Brian Emfinger photographed this early Perseid meteor shower fireball, with a smoke trail, from Ozark, Arkansas just after midnight on Sunday, July 26, 2009.
5 of 27
Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks August 12
Credit: Jim Gamble
2006 Perseid Meteor Shower: Jim Gamble photographed this "nice, bright and long magnitude -8.6 Perseid" using an all-sky camera at the El Paso Station of the Sandia All Sky Camera Network.
6 of 27
NASA Surprised by Unexpected Meteor Outburst
Credit: NASA/MSFC
The unexpected September Perseid meteor shower was captured by the automated Sentinel all-sky camera in this composite of images from Sept. 9, 2008.
7 of 27
Perseid Meteor Shower Lives Up to Its Promise
Credit: Ivo Leupi.
Skywatcher Ivo Leupi snapped this photo of a meteor during the Perseid meteor shower on Aug. 9, 2010 from Westmeath, Ontario in Canada at about 1:30 am local time.
8 of 27
2010 Perseid Meteor Shower Composite Images
Credit: NASA/MSFC/D. Moser, NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office
The 2010 Perseid meteor shower is lighting up the August skies. This image shows two composite views taken on the night of Aug. 11, 2010. The image on the left shows a collection of observations taken from 42 single station events over Huntsville, Ala. The image on the right shows a composite view from 39 single station events over Chickamauga, Ga.
9 of 27
2010 Bright Perseid Fireball
Credit: NASA/MSFC
On the night of August 3 at 9:56 p.m.a Perseid meteor -- about 1 inch in diameter and moving at a speed of 134,000 mph -- entered the atmosphere 70 miles above the town of Paint Rock, Ala. At such a tremendous velocity, the meteor cut a path some 65 miles long, finally burning up 56 miles above Macay Lake, just northeast of the town of Warrior. The meteor was about six times brighter than the planet Venus and would be classified as a fireball by meteor scientists.
10 of 27
2011 Huntsville, Alabama Perseid Meteor
Credit: NASA/MSFC/Meteoroid Environment Office
A bright Perseid meteor crosses the sky over Huntsville, Ala. on July 26, 2011.
11 of 27
Compilation of 2010 Perseid Events Over Huntsville, Alabama
Credit: NASA/MSFC/D. Moser, NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office
A compilation of events seen during the peak of the 2010 Perseid meteor shower on Aug. 13, 2010, over Huntsville, Ala.
12 of 27
Close-up of a Perseid Fireball
Credit: NASA/MSFC/D. Moser, NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office
Close-up image of a Perseid "fireball" meteor.
13 of 27
Marco Verstraaten's Long Exposure of Perseid Meteors
Credit: Marco Verstraaten
On the night of August 12, 2010, astronomer Marco Verstraaten recorded a series of exposures capturing meteors in the Perseid Meteor Shower over a period of 6 hours using a wide angle lens from a not-so-dark site in the Netherlands.
14 of 27
Perseid, Moonlight & Auroral Glow
Credit: Jimmy Westlake, Colorado Mountain College
Astronomer Jimmy Westlake captured this bright Perseid meteor, in spite of a bright combination of moonlight and auroral glow over Colorado skies in August 2000.
15 of 27
Storm on the Horizon and Perseid Meteor
Storms on the distant horizon and a Perseid meteor racing above combine in this nightscape. Robert Arn recorded this scene in the early hours of August 13, 2010, from the Keota Star Party site on the Pawnee National Grasslands of northeastern Colorado, USA. Bright Jupiter shines through the clouds at right.
16 of 27
Tudorica Image of 2008 Perseid Meteor Shower
Credit: Alex Tudorica/Argelander Institute for Astronomy
A mountain top above the clouds and light-polluted cities of Romania served as a good spot from which astrophotographer Alex Tudorica could watch the 2008 Perseid meteor shower. This composite picture from one of the highest points in Romania, the Omu summit (2,507 meters) in the Southern Carpathian Mountains, captured about 20 of the shower's bright streaks.
17 of 27
Perseid & Vancouver Waterfront
Credit: (c) Yuichi Takasaka/blue-moon.ca
Yuichi Takasaka created this image during the 2008 Perseid Meteor Shower, showing a colorful waterfront view of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The picture combines many consecutive 2-second exposures that cover a total time of 1 hour and 33 minutes. The gap in the single meteor trail was caused by the time gap between the consecutive frames.
18 of 27
Perseid Over Joshua Tree
Credit: WallyPacholka/AstroPics.com
Wally Pacholka produced this image of the 2008 Perseid Meteor Shower. The image is one of over 350 frames captured on August 12, 2008, in the Joshua Tree National Park, in California, USA.
19 of 27
Before the Meteor Rush
This bright Perseid meteor streaking through skies near Lake Balaton, Hungary on August 8, 2010, served as advance guard for the meteor shower that was scheduled to peak a few days later. In the foreground stands the region's Church of St. Andrew ruin, with bright Jupiter dominating the sky to its right. Two galaxies lie in the background: our own Milky Way, and the faint smudge of the more distant Andromeda Galaxy just above the ruin's leftmost wall.
20 of 27
Meteor in Moonlight
Credit: Babak Tafreshi/Twanight.org
On August 13, 2009, the moon was seen here above rock formations in the Alborz Mountains near Firouzkooh, Iran. With a dramatic desert landscape in the foreground, a Perseid meteor streaked through the moonlit sky between the overexposed Moon and bright planet Jupiter at the upper right.
21 of 27
Perseid Meteor Near Wichita, Kansas, August 2011
Credit: Gary Rader
Photographer Gary Rader caught this Perseid meteor west of Wichita, Kansas, on August 13, 2011.
22 of 27
Perseid Over Madison, Wisconsin, August 2011
Credit: Abe Megahed
Photographer Abe Megahed caught this Perseid meteor over Madison, Wisconsin, August 13, 2011.
23 of 27
Perseid Over Freeland, Maryland
Credit: Mike Hankey
Photographer Mike Hankey caught this Perseid fireball over Freeland, Maryland, on August 12, 2011.
24 of 27
2011 Perseid Meteor Over South Park, Colorado
Credit: Chris Poldervaart (chrispoldervaart.com)
Photographer Chris Poldervaart caught this Perseid meteor and star trails over South Park, Colorado on August 13. 2011.
25 of 27
Perseid Over Monument Valley, Utah, August 1, 2011.
Credit: Jeff Berkes
Photographer Jeff Berkes caught this Perseid meteor over Monument Valley, Utah, on August 1, 2011.
26 of 27
Perseid Meteor Over Dead Horse Point State Park, Utah
Credit: Jeff Berkes
Photographer Jeff Berkes caught this Perseid meteor over Dead Horse Point State Park, Utah, on July 30, 2011.
27 of 27
Perseid Over West Chester, Pennsylvania
Credit: Jeff Berkes
Photographer Jeff Berkes caught this Perseid meteor over West Chester, Pennsylvania, on August 13, 2011.
