00:00Viewing conditions are particularly favorable throughout the Northern Hemisphere as the
00:03Perseid Summer Light Show returns. The best time to see the fireballs will be after totality,
00:09but the meteor showers are predicted to peak on Wednesday night and continue into Thursday morning,
00:14coinciding with a six-planet parade and a total solar eclipse over Greenland, Iceland, and Spain.
00:21According to NASA, under perfect circumstances, one could see up to 50 to 100 meteors per hour.
00:27According to the American Meteor Society, rural areas in the U.S. could witness 30 to 50 meteors
00:33per hour. On any given night, random meteors can be seen in the dark sky. Every year, at predictable
00:39times, the Earth plows through trails of debris left by comets and occasionally asteroids,
00:44resulting in meteor showers that often produce spectacular celestial displays. Shooting stars
00:50are light streaks created when those remnants collide with Earth's atmosphere at incredibly
00:54high speeds. The common 109p Swift Tuttle, an icy ball that circles the sun every 133 years and is
01:02not expected to return until 2125, is the source of the Perseids. This meteor shower has been observed
01:09for more than 2,000 years. Because they frequently produce brilliant fireballs, the Perseids are a
01:15timeless favorite. This shower is also popular in the summer. According to astronomer Zach Vanderbosch
01:21of McDonald Observatory in Texas, we do not have to suffer through a cold winter night to get a good
01:26view of meteors.
