Meteor Shower to Light the Sky

For those in the Northern Hemisphere, heads up: Astronomers have calculated that the annual Perseid Meteor shower will take place on the night of August 12. From 12 a.m. to 4 a.m., the meteors should be best visible, according to Joe Rao of New York's Hayden Planetarium. Despite the fact that a bright moon will drown out fainter meteors, researchers predict it could be a potentially intense Perseid year (in the absence of moonlight, observers may see up to 200 meteors per hour), and could produce an above average amount of shooting stars. The meteors are the trail of debris left behind by the orbit of the Swift-Tuttle comet, which was discovered in 1862.