The Perseids are back – and every color tells us what they're made of!
Every summer, Earth drifts through the dusty trail of Comet Swift-Tuttle – and the result is one of the most spectacular meteor showers of the year: the Perseids.
Peaking in mid-August and active right now, this shower can produce up to 75 meteors per hour under dark skies. But here’s what makes them even more amazing: each meteor’s color reveals what it’s made of.
As the meteors blaze through Earth’s atmosphere at over 130,000 mph, they burn up in brilliant flashes of different colors – and those colors reveal what elements are inside:
🔴 Red = Oxygen & Nitrogen
🟡 Yellow-Gold = Iron
🟣 Violet = Calcium
🟠 Orange = Sodium
🔵 Teal/Blue-Green = Magnesium
The Perseids are active from July 17 to August 24, with peak nights around August 12–13. Even with some moonlight, it’s still one of the best times to look up.
Find a dark sky, let your eyes adjust, and enjoy one of the best sights of the year!
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