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Monday, August 9, 2010

Perseids Meteor Shower Peak Thursday Night


Astronomers throughout the world are looking-up this Thursday night to see Venus, Mars and Saturn align with crescent Moon popping out of the western twilight before the Perseid Meteor Shower. The spectacular post-midnight height of the meteor light show results from a river of debris from the ancient comet Swift-Tuttle producing the colorful Perseids Meteor Shower, (sighting details from Sarah in Germany vid).

Scientists say the meteor shower will peak between Wednesday and Saturday with amateur astronomers being able to see up to 100 meteors an hour alone on Thursday night. The highest rates are likely to be seen in the early hours of Friday morning in the United States.

Sstar watchers with clear skies can look forward to viewing many of the bright meteor streaks as they burn up in the upper atmosphere after hitting earth at more than 140,000 mph.

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