This week's Perseid meteor shower could deliver 200 meteors per hour

Comet Swift-Tuttle graced our skies last in 1992, though it was observed as far back as 69 B.C. by the Chinese. The Earth passes through the particles left behind by the comet every year in mid-August. The friction caused by the dust hitting the Earth's atmosphere gives rise to the Perseid meteor shower.

This year's version of the mid-August meteor shower has been predicted by NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office to have double the normal number of meteors. The best time to catch meteors streaking across the sky will be after midnight on the night of August 11th/12th, after the moon has set. Look about halfway up between the horizon and straight overhead towards the northeast at the constellation of Perseus in the predawn hours to catch the peak of this meteor shower. Exact predictions are difficult to make, but at peak, there may be 200 meteors per hour. Meteors will be visible for several days after the night of the 11th-12th, but at lower rates.

The moon will be getting gradually larger in the evening skies after sunset. On the evening of the 11th, Mars, Saturn, and the star Antares will be visible just below the moon, creating a prominent display in the southern sky.

The most elusive of the planets visible to the naked eye, Mercury, will be at its greatest eastern elongation from the sun on August 16. With a clear view of the western horizon, Mercury (the least bright), Venus (closer to the horizon), and Jupiter (farthest from the horizon) will be best viewed about 45 minutes after sunset.