The Perseids are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle. The Perseids are so called because the point they appear to come from, called the radiant, lies in the constellation Perseus. Meteor showers occur when the Earth moves through a meteor stream. The stream in this case is called the Perseid cloud and it stretches along the orbit of the Comet Swift-Tuttle. The cloud consists of particles ejected by the comet as it passed by the Sun. Most of the dust in the cloud today is approximately a thousand years old. However, there is also a relatively young filament of dust in the stream that boiled off the comet in 1862. The approximate rate of meteors originating from this filament is much higher than normal.
The annual Perseid meteor shower peaks on on Tuesday, August 12th. The best time to look is during the dark hours before dawn on Tuesday morning when forecasters expect 50 to 100 meteors per hour. Get away from city lights if you can; plan a camping trip! The darker the sky, the more meteors you will see.
If you can get away from the city lights and it is a clear night, you will experience an annual event that is spectacular. I was fortunate to witness the Perseids a few years ago in the Mojave Dessert by doing nothing more than sitting on a lawn chair and looking up at the sky. It was amazing.
Time Lapse of the Perseid Meteor Shower
You can find out more about the Perseid Meteor Shower and other space phenomenon at SpaceWeather.
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