How can meteor showers be predicted?

Icy debris ejected from comets, or dust from a near-Earth asteroid, spreads out into a "stream" of particles along the body's orbit. A meteor shower occurs when Earth passes through this material, which generally happens at only one point in its orbit. read more

They can be predicted, to some extent. There are well-known showers that occur at certain times of year and which appear to come from a particular. read more

Meteor showers are generally clusters of debris that are floating about in the areas where our planet revolves around the sun. Much of this debris is from comets that lose material as they streak towards the sun. read more

That means you'll see the most meteors in the shortest amount of time near that peak, but you can still catch some action from the famed meteor shower before or after that point. The 2017 Perseid meteor shower will peak around 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT) on Aug. 12, so the nights of Aug. 11-12 and Aug. 12-13 should see the highest rates. read more