Keep an eye on the sky in the wee hours of August 13: We’re due for the peak of the Perseid meteor shower. In this annual spectacle, considered by space nerds to be the primo shooting star show, our planet whizzes into the dusty remnants left by the comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience.
Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . This orbital confluence sets off a cosmic traffic jam.
This orbital confluence sets off a cosmic traffic jam. The tiny pieces of Swift-Tuttle, usually no bigger than a grain of sand, smash into Earth’s atmosphere at up to 37 miles per second and burn up, birthing what we know as shooting stars, as seen in this 2010 photo of the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile. Each year, the comet dust collides with our atmosphere between mid-July and late August.