Photos: Amazing Perseid Meteor Shower Displays

Dark Skies

ESO/S. Guisard

Despite the Perseid meteor shower being more visible in the northern hemisphere, due to the path of Comet Swift-Tuttle's orbit, the shower was also spotted from the exceptionally dark skies over ESO's Paranal Observatory in Chile.

Perseid Meteor Shower 2010 Prediction

NASA/JPL

The 2010 Perseid meteor shower was predicted to experience peak activity August 12-13, 2010.

Summertime Balls of Fire

Koen Miskotte

Two Kappa Cygnids (top left corner) and a plethora of Perseids adorn this image of the northeastern summer sky by Koen Miskotte, the Netherlands, on August 12-13, 2007.

Strong Meteor Shower Expected

Brian Emfinger, used with permission (more photos: http://www.realclearwx.com).

Brian Emfinger photographed this early Perseid meteor shower fireball, with a smoke trail, from Ozark, Arkansas just after midnight on Sunday, July 26, 2009.

Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks August 12

Jim Gamble

2006 Perseid Meteor Shower: Jim Gamble photographed this "nice, bright and long magnitude -8.6 Perseid" using an all-sky camera at the El Paso Station of the Sandia All Sky Camera Network.

NASA Surprised by Unexpected Meteor Outburst

NASA/MSFC

The unexpected September Perseid meteor shower was captured by the automated Sentinel all-sky camera in this composite of images from Sept. 9, 2008.

Perseid Meteor Shower Lives Up to Its Promise

Ivo Leupi.

Skywatcher Ivo Leupi snapped this photo of a meteor during the Perseid meteor shower on Aug. 9, 2010 from Westmeath, Ontario in Canada at about 1:30 am local time.

2010 Perseid Meteor Shower Composite Images

NASA/MSFC/D. Moser, NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office

The 2010 Perseid meteor shower is lighting up the August skies. This image shows two composite views taken on the night of Aug. 11, 2010. The image on the left shows a collection of observations taken from 42 single station events over Huntsville, Ala. The image on the right shows a composite view from 39 single station events over Chickamauga, Ga.

2010 Bright Perseid Fireball

NASA/MSFC

On the night of August 3 at 9:56 p.m.a Perseid meteor -- about 1 inch in diameter and moving at a speed of 134,000 mph -- entered the atmosphere 70 miles above the town of Paint Rock, Ala. At such a tremendous velocity, the meteor cut a path some 65 miles long, finally burning up 56 miles above Macay Lake, just northeast of the town of Warrior. The meteor was about six times brighter than the planet Venus and would be classified as a fireball by meteor scientists.

2011 Huntsville, Alabama Perseid Meteor

NASA/MSFC/Meteoroid Environment Office

A bright Perseid meteor crosses the sky over Huntsville, Ala. on July 26, 2011.

Compilation of 2010 Perseid Events Over Huntsville, Alabama

NASA/MSFC/D. Moser, NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office

A compilation of events seen during the peak of the 2010 Perseid meteor shower on Aug. 13, 2010, over Huntsville, Ala.

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