Every 133 years the Swift-Tuttle Comet streaks across our inner solar system leaving a trail of debris in its wake. This is the time of year when the earth passes throught that debris field; in fact it's so wide we have been in it for several weeks. Specks of debris collide with the Earth's atmosphere traveling at about 140, 000 miles per hour, disintegrating into a ball of fire and light.
It's called the Persied meteor shower and it's quite a sight. The annual event can be quite specatular for the star gazer with potentially up to 100 or more meteors visible per hour depending on where on the globe you ar viewing them. According to the International Meteor Organization observers are now reporting up to 30 meteors per hour with possibly more on Thursday night into Friday morning, the peak of the event.
I would suggest getting out tonight to catch the show as we are looking at increasing cloudiness and the possibility of thunderstorms late Thursday evening. You should be able to see meteors anywhere in the sky but the northeast is where the constellation Persius is located and the track of the meteors will originate from this sector of the sky. Head away from the city lights preferrably in the predawn hours for optimum viewing.
Even the planets are lining up for the show. Look to the west during twilight and you'll see Mars, Saturn and Venus in a celestial triangle. There is a lot going on in the heavens this week and it's better than TV.
