On Tuesday night, weather permitting, you may be able to catch a glimpse of plummeting space matter. A meteor shower, thousands of years in the making.

The Perseid meteor shower, which happens every August, has been visible for nearly a week, but it is expected to be most spectacular on Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.

The shower is made up of tiny particles of dust, the remnants of the comet Swift-Tuttle, which move around the sun in an orbit. As the Earth passes through the meteor stream each year, the dust particles burn in the Earth’s upper atmosphere, creating a radiant glow.

So turn your eyes to the skys, facing northeast, between 1 and 2 a.m. on Wednesday morning to witness a 2000 year old shower.

References:

1. Picture from: http://philosophyofscienceportal.blogspot.com/