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The Planetary Society Blog

By Emily Lakdawalla

Check out the Perseids this weekend!

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Every year for my brother's birthday the heavens put on a nice meteor show. Peaking around August 12 (happy birthday, Neil!), the Perseid meteor shower is one of the better-known ones in the northern hemisphere, if only because it's on a nice summer night. This year it's especially good because it's happening over a weekend (making it easier to stay up late) and during a new Moon (making it much much easier to spot meteors).

I am probably the worst space blogger to try to tell you anything about the meteor shower, because I am in no way an astronomer, for the primary reason that I am strictly not a night person. As soon as the Sun goes down, so do I. Fortunately, Bruce Betts has stepped up to provide much more useful information: "Don't Miss a Great Perseid Meteor Shower and a Total Lunar Eclipse."

In addition, you can read 12 shower observing tips provided by The Bad Astronomer. And, for those of you who, like me, would rather ride on the coattails of more dedicated skywatchers than make yourself all grouchy next day by staying up late, Spaceweather.com is a good place to find amazing photos of any space event from all over the world.

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