Star Tours

The annual Perseid meteor shower peaks today. Observers in a dark location might see up to one meteor a minute late tonight. Meteors come from dust shed by comets long ago. If the Earth passes near a comet’s orbit, it sweeps up dust particles that fall as fiery meteors. They burn up through air friction like a returning spacecraft without a heat shield. Perseid meteors radiate from the direction of the constellation Perseus, which is in the northeast. A few Perseid meteors will fall Friday and Saturday nights. NASA will show live pictures of the meteors taken by a digital camera in a balloon on the Internet at https://www.perseidslive.com.

* Source: John Mosley, Griffith Observatory; Times staff