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See Perseid Meteor Shower in Photos

2024-08-13 00:50:02

1 minute read

If you saw some meteors streaking across the sky last night, that was the Perseid meteor shower.

The shower, which happens once a year, usually starts in mid-July, but is hardly noticeable then. The peak—when stargazers can see the most meteors—typically occurs around mid-August and can be seen across the world. 

The best time to watch the Perseid meteor shower in the U.S. was the night of Aug. 11. But if you missed it, don’t fret: you can still see a good amount of meteors in the early morning hours of Aug. 13. The meteor shower is considered to be the best of the year—people watching it could see about 20-30 meteors per hour if they’re looking at a dark sky away from city lights. 

The meteor shower takes place when Earth travels through the debris of a comet called Swift-Tuttle. As pieces of that debris enter Earth’s atmosphere, they burn up because of the friction, leading to the streaks in the sky that most people know as “shooting stars” or “falling stars.”

Photographers captured beautiful images of this year’s event. 

Here are some of the best photos:

Astronomers observe the northern skies during the Perseid meteor shower in Kozjak, North Macedonia, on Aug. 12, 2024.Ognen Teofilovski—Reuters
This long exposure picture shows a meteor crossing the night sky over the Post-Camaldolese monastery in the village of Wigry, Suwalki region, Poland, during the annual Perseids meteor shower early on Aug. 12, 2024.Sergei Gapon—AFP/Getty Images
Stone head sculptures at the archaeological site of Mount Nemrut in Adyaman, southeastern Turkey, on August 11, 2024, during the Perseid meteor shower.Kemal Aslan—AFP/Getty Images
A meteor crossing the night sky over a sunflowers field during the Perseid meteor shower, in Guadalajara, Spain.Marcos del Mazo—LightRocket/Getty Images
A shooting star shines in the night sky over the North Sea near Pilsum ,Lower Saxony, Germany, on Aug. 12, 2024.Matthias Balk—picture alliance/Getty Images

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