Get ready for one of the most dazzling celestial displays of the year—the Perseid meteor shower. Active from mid-July through late August, this year it reaches its spectacular peak on the night of August 12 and into the early hours of August 13. The Perseids light up the skies when Earth passes through a trail of icy and rocky debris left behind by Comet Swift–Tuttle, which last passed close to our planet in 1992. These meteors are called the Perseids because they appear to streak from the direction of the constellation Perseus.
Perseid meteor shower over Nevada
Today in History
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Here we mark the price of freedom
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Earth Science Week
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Pretty in pink, and purple, and red…
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Surf s up—Down Under
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Sparkling ice diamonds on a black sandy beach
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Desert bighorn sheep in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada
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Ides of March
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Great gray owls in their nest, Finland
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Happy Cinco de Mayo!
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Sweetheart Abbey, Scotland
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Jan van Eyckplein in Bruges, Belgium
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Daylight saving time
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Tide pools in La Jolla, California
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Winter solstice
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Corfu at night, Greece
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Red squirrel in Cairngorms National Park, Scotland
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A river runs through rice fields
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Lake Bled, Slovenia
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Arambol Beach, Goa, India
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International Day of Light
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Happy Fourth of July!
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Dhaka, Bangladesh
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Patriot Day
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Harvest time in the Palouse
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Heceta Head Light, Florence, Oregon
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A toast to California!
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The old guard at Old San Juan
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Love on ice
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Boxing Day—a shopper’s delight
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State funeral of Queen Elizabeth II
Bing Wallpaper Gallery

