Skywatchers set for meteor shower

(BBC): Skygazers are getting ready to watch the annual Perseid meteor shower, which peaks on Wednesday. The Perseid shower occurs when the Earth passes through a stream of dusty debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle. As this cometary "grit" strikes our atmosphere, it burns up, often creating streaks of light across the sky. This impressive spectacle appears to originate from a point called a "radiant" in the constellation of Perseus – hence the name Perseid. "Earth passes through the densest part of the debris stream sometime on 12 August. Then, you could see dozens of meteors per hour," said Bill Cooke of Nasa’s meteoroid environment office.

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