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what's up for august the perseid meteor

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shower hello and welcome i'm jane

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houston jones at nasa's jet propulsion

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laboratory in pasadena california

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if you've never seen a meteor shower

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this month's perseids are a perfect

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introduction

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plan a summer getaway on thursday night

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august 12th you'll begin to see meteors

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by about 11 pm but the rates increase

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closer to dawn

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the perseid meteor shower is named after

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the constellation perseus and the

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meteors appear to originate near this

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constellation in the northeast sky

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this year's meteor shower happens on a

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moonless night so you'll be able to see

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more of the fast bright meteors

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meteor showers are the debris of a

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passing comet or sometimes the debris

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from a fragmented asteroid

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comets originally formed in the cold

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outer solar system

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while most of the rocky asteroids formed

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in the warmer inner solar system between

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the orbits of mars and jupiter

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when a comet nears the sun its icy

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surface heats up

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this causes clouds of gas

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dirt and dust to be released forming a

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tail of debris that can stretch for

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millions of miles

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as earth passes near this dusty tail

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some of the particles hit our atmosphere

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they burn up and we see the result as

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meteors

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nasa generates meteor shower forecasts

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to prevent potential hazards to

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spacecraft that are launching and

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orbiting earth

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you'll see some perseids all month long

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before and after midnight but the best

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fireworks display will be in the wee

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the european space agency's comet

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mission rosetta flew by asteroid lutecia

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last month and returned beautiful images

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of this battered world

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now rosetta's on its way to send a

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lander to a comet

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nasa's deep impact epoxy spacecraft is

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on an extended mission to study

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and search for planets orbiting distant

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but first in early november this year it

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will fly by comet hartley too

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nasa's stardust next mission will fly by

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comet temple 1 in 2011

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and the dawn mission arrives at asteroid

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vesta in 2011

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despite that recurring email hoax about

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mars being big and bright this month it

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appears as a faint reddish object near

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brighter venus and saturn just at sunset

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jupiter shines as a brilliant beacon

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nearly overhead before midnight

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through a telescope you might be able to

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see nearby uranus

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you can learn more about nasa missions