Sky-gazers keep eye on meteor shower
6:45 AM
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A meteor streaks across the sky Tuesday over Vinton, Calif., during the annual Perseid meteor shower. (Kevin Clifford/Associated Press)The Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak at about 2 p.m. ET on Wednesday, but for viewers in Canada the annual event is still expected to put on a show Wednesday night.
About 100 meteors per hour can be seen streaking across the sky during the shower's peak, NASA astronomers say.
The peak, however, is at about 2 p.m. ET on Wednesday, meaning people in Canada won't get to the see it at its zenith.
But the meteor shower did put on a show Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning and is expected to do the same Wednesday evening.
NASA astronomers recommend watching the shower between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., when both the moon and the constellation Perseus are low on the horizon, though the number of meteors will be fewer than at the shower's apex.
The Perseids are named for the location of their appearance in the sky within Perseus, but the actual origin of the meteor shower can be traced to debris left behind from the 109P/Swift-Tuttle comet, which passes through the inner solar system every 130 years.
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