Perseid meteors will put on dazzling show tonight

Updated: August 11, 2007 - 6:16 PM

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Overnight tonight, the sky will shed tears of fire. That's what the followers of St. Lawrence thought was happening after his brutal martyrdom by Romans in 258 A.D. Today, the annual summer celestial cavalcade is known as the Perseid meteor shower (it appears to emanate from the constellation Perseus in the northeast sky).

When to look: Skygazers can expect to spot streaking fireballs late Sunday into dawn Monday regardless of time zone -- providing they escape the light pollution of cities. Astronomers estimate as many as 60 meteors per hour could flit across the sky at the shower's peak.

A good year: No telescope is needed, just the naked eye. And this year's show comes with an added bonus: Mars will be visible as a bright red dot in the northeastern sky. Also, the shower coincides with a new moon, which means the skies will be dark and perfect for viewing meteors.

Where to go: Bob Gehrz, chairman of the astronomy department at the University of Minnesota, recommends going outside after midnight to watch the show in the sky. He said it will be visible from back yards, but for the best view, he suggested driving to a location northeast of the Twin Cities, away from bright city lights. The shower event will peak tonight , but activity will continue throughout the week.

Today's science lesson: The Perseid shower occurs when Earth's orbit crosses the path of debris thrown off by Comet Swift-Tuttle. As the cosmic junk -- many the size of a grain of sand -- enters the atmosphere, it burns up in a flash, appearing as "shooting stars." Every year Earth returns to the same spot in space and moves through this trail of dust, triggering the display.

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