If you saw some meteors streaking across the sky last night, that was the Perseid meteor shower.
The shower, which happens once a year, usually starts in mid-July, but is hardly noticeable then. The peak—when stargazers can see the most meteors—typically occurs around mid-August and can be seen across the world.
The best time to watch the Perseid meteor shower in the U.S. was the night of Aug. 11. But if you missed it, don’t fret: you can still see a good amount of meteors in the early morning hours of Aug. 13. The meteor shower is considered to be the best of the year—people watching it could see about 20-30 meteors per hour if they’re looking at a dark sky away from city lights.
The meteor shower takes place when Earth travels through the debris of a comet called Swift-Tuttle. As pieces of that debris enter Earth’s atmosphere, they burn up because of the friction, leading to the streaks in the sky that most people know as “shooting stars” or “falling stars.”
Photographers captured beautiful images of this year’s event.
Here are some of the best photos:
