Amazing photos of the 2021 Perseid meteor shower
(Image credit: Costfoto/Barcroft Media via Getty Images)
The annual Perseid meteor shower, one of the best displays of "shooting stars" this year, put on a spectacular show for skywatchers around the world.
As Earth passed through the remnants of Comet Swift-Tuttle, small pieces of the comet rained down on Earth, producing dozens of visible meters every hour. See photos of the 2021 Perseid meteor shower in this Space.com gallery!
In the photo above, a Perseid meteor is seen above desert poplar plants in Korla, China, on Aug. 12, 2021.
Full story: Perseid meteor shower of 2021 thrills skywatchers
Related: How to see the best meteor showers of 2021
(Image credit: Bestami Bodruk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
A cyclist watches the Perseid meteor shower over Zerzevan Castle in Diyarbakir, Turkey, on Aug. 12, 2021. (One meteor is visible behind the bike's rear wheel.)
(Image credit: Samuel de Roman/Getty)
Meteors streak along the Milky Way galaxy in the night sky above Porma Lake in Leon, Spain, on Aug. 5, 2021.
(Image credit: Samuel de Roman/Getty)
The Milky Way galaxy sparkles behind a couple of meteors in this photo taken from Porma Lake in Leon, Spain, on Aug. 5, 2021.
(Image credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
A pink-and-green Perseid meteor streaks over a sandstone outcropping at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada, on Aug. 12, 2021. The color of a meteor burning up in the night sky is determined by its chemical composition; Perseid meteors contain elements like calcium, sodium, magnesium, silicon and iron.
(Image credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Another Perseid meteor is pictured over the Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada, on Aug. 12, 2021.
(Image credit: Courtesy of Tyler Leavitt)
The 2021 Perseids viewed from roughly 30 miles (50 km) outside of Las Vegas.
(Image credit: Courtesy of Tyler Leavitt)
The 2021 Perseids viewed from roughly 30 miles (50 km) outside of Las Vegas.
(Image credit: Courtesy of Tyler Leavitt)
The 2021 Perseids viewed from roughly 30 miles (50 km) outside of Las Vegas.
(Image credit: Courtesy of Tyler Leavitt)
The 2021 Perseids viewed from roughly 30 miles (50 km) outside of Las Vegas.
(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
NASA photographer Bill Ingalls captured this 30-second exposure of a Perseid meteor streaking across the sky above Spruce Knob, West Virginia, on Aug. 11, 2021.
(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
NASA photographer Bill Ingalls captured this 30-second exposure of a Perseid meteor streaking across the sky above Spruce Knob, West Virginia, on Aug. 11, 2021.
(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
NASA photographer Bill Ingalls captured this 30-second exposure of a Perseid meteor streaking across the sky above Spruce Knob, West Virginia, on Aug. 11, 2021.
(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
NASA photographer Bill Ingalls captured this 30-second exposure of a Perseid meteor streaking across the sky above Spruce Knob, West Virginia, on Aug. 11, 2021.
(Image credit: NASA)
NASA's All-Sky Fireball Network captured several Perseid meteors on video using its network of 17 cameras placed across the United States. You can watch the video and read the full story here.
Hanneke Weitering is an editor at Space.com with 10 years of experience in science journalism. She has previously written for Scholastic Classroom Magazines, MedPage Today and The Joint Institute for Computational Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After studying physics at the University of Tennessee in her hometown of Knoxville, she earned her graduate degree in Science, Health and Environmental Reporting (SHERP) from New York University. Hanneke joined the Space.com team in 2016 as a staff writer and producer, covering topics including spaceflight and astronomy. She currently lives in Seattle, home of the Space Needle, with her cat and two snakes. In her spare time, Hanneke enjoys exploring the Rocky Mountains, basking in nature and looking for dark skies to gaze at the cosmos.
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