Perseid meteor shower on NASA TV

On August 12, meteor experts from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center provided commentary during NASA Television’s live coverage of the annual Perseid meteor shower. The Perseids have been observed for at least 2,000 years and are associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the sun once every 133 years. Every August, the Earth passes through a cloud of the comet’s debris. This debris field consists of bits of ice and dust — most over 1,000 years old — and burns up in Earth’s atmosphere to create one of the best meteor showers of the year.