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[Music]

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what's up for August this month our main

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focus is the Perseid meteor shower the

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best-known meteors of the year the

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Perseids are back but this year's shower

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will have to contend with a bright moon

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on the peak nights still you could see a

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dozen or more meteors per hour including

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the occasional very bright meteor also

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called a fireball the meteors in this

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shower are particles left behind in the

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debris trail of a comet called

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swift-tuttle this 16 mile wide icy dust

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ball orbits the Sun every 133 years it

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last swept through the inner solar

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system in 1992 and will return in the

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year 21:26 Earth passes through part of

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this trail of debris every year creating

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the meteor shower as tiny pieces of

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comet debris collide with our atmosphere

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and burn up the best viewing this year

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will be on the mornings of August 12th

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and 13th in the last couple of hours

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before dawn the moon will be nearly full

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during this time so you will have a

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better chance to see meteors when the

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moon is low in the West or the brief

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period after it sets for the best meteor

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watching just face toward the east and

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look up the Perseids generally appear to

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radiate from a point here a bit to the

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left of the Pleiades star cluster but

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they can appear pretty much anywhere on

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the sky it's important to find a spot

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away from bright lights and give your

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eyes a little time to adjust to the

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darkness try to avoid looking at your

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bright phone screen to you'll see more

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meteors that way and although you're

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more likely to see meteors at the

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showers peak you should also be able to

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spot a few any night the week before

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just know that the moon's brightness

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will wash out most of the fainter

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Perseids this year in Planet spotting

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this month the Moon pairs up with

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Jupiter in the evening sky on the 9th it

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then visits with Saturn on the 11th here

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you can catch up on all of NASA's

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current and future missions at nasa.gov

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I'm Preston dykes from NASA's Jet