2011 Perseid meteor shower is peaking

Written by: William Atkins | Published in: SpaceThe peak of the Perseid meteor shower is set to happen on Saturday night and Sunday morning, August 11 and 12, 2012. Watch it under your local night sky!

May 6-7, 2010 is the peak of the eta Aquarid meteor shower for both hemispheres of Earth. Expect to see thirty or more meteors per hour at its maximum just before local sunrise if in the southern hemisphere, and about one-third that many if in the north.

Written by: William Atkins | Published in: SpaceThe Orionid meteor shower is expected to be "beautiful" in 2012, along with producing a lot of speedy meteors shooting across the night sky on October 21, 2012, the shower's peak.

Written by: William Atkins | Published in: SpaceThe Earth will be passing through meteors left over from the Comet Encke during November 2012, what we humans call the Taurid meteor shower. Although we'll probably only see a few of them per hour, past experiences have seen some of them turn into fireballs.

The Geminid meteor shower will peak in 2010 on December 13th and 14th. Are you ready for around 120 to 140 meteors per hour? And, a mystery?

The 2012 Orionid meteor shower peaked early Sunday, with forecasters predicting up to 25 meteors an hour for patient stargazers with clear skies well away from city lights. Based on accounts sent into SPACE.com, the meteor shower did not disappoint.

Written by: William Atkins | Published in: SpaceAstronomers are predicting over 50 meteor per hour should be seen at the peak of the Geminid meteor shower; that's just under 1 meteor per minute. So, with a clear sky and good weather conditions you should have a good time watching the Geminids overhead.

Featured | Written by: William Atkins | Published in: SpaceA new meteor shower may make its first appearance in December 2012. The source of the new shower is Comet Wirtanen. And, its first appearance may coincide with the Geminid meteor shower.

The meteors flare up in brilliant displays when they streak through Earth's atmosphere at about 65 kilometers per second (that's nearly 150,000 mph), according to NASA astronomer Mitzi Adams.