Perseids Set to Illuminate the Night Sky Before Dawn Thursday

The Perseid meteor shower peaks overnight into early Thursday morning, with the best viewing after midnight through dawn on Aug. 13 under a new moon that won’t wash out the sky. Observers in dark, rural areas could see up to 50 meteors per hour as debris from Comet Swift–Tuttle burns up in Earth’s atmosphere; the meteors radiate from the Perseus constellation and travel about 37 miles per second, often showing colored trails that reveal the meteors’ composition (red from nitrogen/oxygen, orange from sodium, yellow from iron, green from magnesium, blue from magnesium/calcium, and purple from calcium/nitrogen). If you miss the peak, glimpses may continue through Aug. 24.**