August 11, 2026 / 10:05 AM EDT
/ CBS/AP
Add CBS News on Google
The Perseid meteor shower is set to provide a late-summer show in the skies over the United States.The meteor shower, which NASA calls the best of the year, is set to peak on Aug. 12 and 13."With swift and bright meteors, Perseids frequently leave long 'wakes' of light and color behind them as they streak through Earth's atmosphere," according to NASA. "The Perseids are one of the most plentiful showers with about 50 to 100 meteors seen per hour."For those who are trying to see the meteor shower on Wednesday night, the best time for viewing in the Northern Hemisphere is during the predawn hours on Aug. 13, but if you don't want to get up very early, you can still see them as early as 10 p.m. the night before.Random meteors are visible in dark skies on any given night. Meteor showers tend to put on dazzling celestial shows and happen at predictable times every year when the Earth plows through trails of debris left behind by comets and, sometimes, asteroids. Those remnants collide with Earth's atmosphere at extremely high speeds, producing streaks of light known as shooting stars.The Perseids are debris from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, an icy ball that orbits the sun every 133 years and isn't scheduled for a return visit until 2125. Observations of this meteor shower date back over 2,000 years.The Perseids are a perennial favorite because they tend to produce brilliant fireballs. Summer temperatures also make this shower popular.
