Perseid meteor shower to set alight Sunday night sky

After going through a week of heavy rain, Filipinos can catch a welcome treat Sunday night as the Perseid meteor shower shoots through the Northern Hemisphere's night sky in a brilliant display of cosmic fireworks. This year's Perseid activity period is from July 23 to August 22. According to the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration's (PAGASA) astronomical diary, the shower's peak will be on the night of August 12 and the early morning of August 13, a day after the full moon. The US' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) says to expect meteor rates as high as one hundred per hour. "The Perseids always put on a good show," said Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. Comet debris Ever year, the Earth's orbit takes it through the debris stream of the Swift-Tuttle comet—which the Perseids are part of. The meteors got their name because they look as if they are radiating from the constellation Perseus, which is in the eastern horizon in August. On the agency's astronomical diary, PAGASA administrator Nathaniel Servando said that the meteors will be easiest to see if there is "no moonlight [or] light pollution at all, and if the weather permits." "The dark hours between Saturday night and Sunday morning should be especially fruitful for meteor hunting," the website Space.com stated. Gathering of planets NASA said this year's display is extra-special because the planets—Jupiter, Venus, and the crescent Moon—may gather just as the meteor shower reaches its peak. "The alignment occurs in the eastern sky before sunrise on the three mornings of highest meteor activity," NASA said. "Sky watchers say there's nothing prettier than a close encounter between the slender crescent Moon and Venus—nothing, that is, except for the crescent Moon, Venus and a flurry of Perseids," it said. NASA's Cooke also said NASA has developed "Meteor Counter," a free app for Android and iPhones to help amateur sky watchers count meteors in a scientific way and report the results to it. - BM, GMA News