Perseid Meteor Shower

Be sure to look up at the night sky between Monday, August 10 and Friday August 14, 2009. The peak night for the famous Perseid Meteor Shower will be late at night on Wednesday, August 12 until dawn of August 13. This meteor shower received its name because the point in which it appears to come from lies in the constellation Perseus.

According to the Classical Astronomy website and Wikipedia,
meteor showers are formed of a dust trail left behind from the tail of a comet as it circles around the Sun. The showers are only formed when the orbit of the Earth passes through the meteor stream. The Perseid meteors are formed of the remains of Comet Swift-Tuttle, which circles the Sun every 135 years.

The earliest record of the Perseid's was by the Chinese in 36 AD. For more historical data on the Perseid meteor shower, visit Gary Kronk's meteor site.

As always, it is best to view the night sky away from streetlights in rural skies, however you should be able to catch a glimpse of a fair number of meteors in the city. The best time to observe is in the dark hours before sunrise, about 4:00 AM.