Meteors in annual showers happen when Earth encounters debris left behind by a comet. That's why they happen at the same time every year. The comet that spawned the Perseids is called Swift-Tuttle. Image by AstroBob.
Monday and Tuesday are likely the best mornings, but many meteors will be drowned in the light of a nearly full moon. Find moonset times for your location. Read more.
This new Hubble Space Telescope portrait of Jupiter reveals a smaller-than-usual Great Red Spot and an intense color palette in Jupiter's swirling clouds. See it and read more.
In June and July, more than 100 long-lived and intense wildfires blazed within the Arctic Circle, in Alaska, Siberia, and even Greenland. These fires lofted thick plumes of smoke - and megatons of tiny, harmful particles - into the sky. Read more.
Tonight, the moon is closest to Saturn. The moon is in the sky nearly all night now. As the peak of the Perseid meteor shower arrives, the dark window between moonset and dawn is closing. Read more.
Indian white-eyes (Zosterops palpebrosus) are small birds, about 4-6 inches (10-15 cm) long. They're sometimes kept as pets. Our friend Swami Krishnananda caught a series of images of these birds this week and wrote: "Yesterday a flock of white-eyes landed on a tree below my room. Two of them started grooming themselves, grooming each other, sharing some sweet words of love …" See his photos.
