Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Hot on Facebook

Uproar After NC State Agent 'Fixes' Girl's Lunch Preschooler has to eat chicken nuggets instead of mom's meal »

Comet Dust Will Light Sky

By Dustin Lushing, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 11, 2007 1:46 PM CDT

(Newser) – Comet debris will light up the sky tomorrow night and Monday morning with shooting stars as Earth passes through the Perseid meteor shower. For the best view, pick a dark spot away from city lights and look east, says the Discovery Channel. "It's going to be a great show," a NASA expert advises. The showers will start around 9 PM EDT tomorrow night and peak at 2 AM Monday morning.

Comet Swift-Tuttle last glided by Earth in 1992, but its dust remains in a region of space that Earth travels through each year. The particles from the comet's tail heat up to 3K degrees and zoom at 136K mph as they contact Earth's atmosphere, and under this weekend's new moon will be particularly visible.

[Images (2)]

[Videos (1)]

Device Tracks And Photographs Meteorites (Getty Images)

Annual Geminid Meteor Shower Creates Magical Nightime Light Show (Getty Images (by Event))

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

Perseids (Pyxmalion (YouTube))

View larger videos >>

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next »

To report an error on this story, notify our editors.

More Newser Stories

Astronaut Shoots Comet Video... From Space

Lovejoy visible in 'most amazing' clip

(NEWSER) - An astronaut has captured video of a comet, and it looks like it's straight out of a sci-fi flick. International Space Station Commander Dan Burbank was snapping images of lightning storms over the Pacific when Comet Lovejoy made its appearance. He didn't know what it was at first, describing it as "a long green glowing arc." He calls it "the most amazing thing I have ever seen in space," notes Space.com . "And that's saying an awful lot." NASA turned Burbank's 100-or-so photographs into a video; watch below. More»

Mars Rover 'Curiosity' Launches

Thousands converge to watch

(AP) - The world's biggest extraterrestrial explorer is on its way to Mars. NASA today launched the six-wheeled, one-armed robotic rover, nicknamed Curiosity. An unmanned rocket blasted off with the spacecraft from Cape Canaveral. The journey to Mars will take 8 1/2 months and cover 354 million miles. Thousands of NASA guests converged on Kennedy Space Center for the launch. More»

NASA Preps Biggest-Ever Mars Rover

Can planet sustain life? Curiosity will search for clues

(NEWSER) - It’s “a Mars scientist's dream machine”: NASA is getting ready to launch its largest-ever Mars rover on Saturday. It’s not just big—it’s “the largest and most complex piece of equipment ever placed on the surface of another planet,” the agency’s Mars boss tells the AP . Curiosity, as the 7-foot-high rover is called, is equipped with a jackhammer and laser arm to break through rocks as it probes Martian soil. More»

Orionid Meteor Shower Headed This Way

Moon likely to obscure comet dust

(NEWSER) - The annual Orionid meteor shower will peak just before dawn on Friday and Saturday this week —although the sight won't be as amazing in years past, astronomers say. The meteor shower—caused by Earth passing through a cloud of dust left behind by Halley's comet—will be hard to spot because of the large, waning crescent moon, experts say, but people who happen to be up at around 5 am either day might catch a glimpse, especially if they live away from city lights. More»

NASA Photos Point to Flowing Water on Mars

Mud 'tendrils' flow downhill, suggesting 'briny water'

(NEWSER) - New NASA images show “tendrils” of what appears to be mud flowing down hillsides, researchers say. “It's hard to imagine they are formed by anything other than fluid seeping down slopes,” notes one scientist. The cold temperatures when the tendrils appear suggest they aren’t fresh water, the BBC reports. “The best explanation we have for these observations so far is flow of briny water, although this study does not prove that,” says the lead researcher. More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website