Pretty, prolific meteor shower to light the sky on Wednesday night

[Fansome]

Pretty, prolific meteor shower to light the sky on Wednesday night

The Perseid meteor, featuring between 50 and 100 streaks per hour, will be late Wednesday and early Thursday.
By Ken Kaye Sun Sentinel contact the reporter

The Perseid meteors streak downward at about 30,000 mph.

Between 50 and 100 meteors per hour will streak across the northeast sky late Wednesday night through dawn Thursday. No telescopes are necessary, as they can be easily seen with the naked eye.

This is the annual Perseid meteor shower, and weather permitting, it should be glorious, said Arnold Pearlstein, a Fort Lauderdale astronomer.

"They leave nice long trails as they flash by, and it's very colorful," he said. Making the shower even more dramatic: There will be no moon, he added.
Perseid meteors streak downward at about 30,000 mph.

Perseid meteors streak downward at about 30,000 mph. (NASA/Courtesy)

The Perseids are created out of the debris from the Swift-Tuttle Comet. As the Earth passes through that debris, rocks and particles race downward at about 100,000 mph and burn up in our atmosphere.

"If you have a dark viewing spot, you're going to see the most meteors," Pearlstein said.

[Zoidberg]

 

[ChrisSmolinski]