Community Corner
Slideshow: Perseid Meteor Shower
The city lights may have muted the view of the meteor shower for many Angelenos on Saturday morning, but some folks around the world saw a spectacular sight.
From Vancouver to Hawaii and Poland to Topanga State Park, stargazers gathered to watch the annual Perseid meteor shower early Saturday morning. NASA even offered an online chat to view the celestial event along with experts Friday night through Saturday morning.
The annual meteor shower is caused by the cloud of the comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the sun every 133 years. The Perseid meteor shower has been observed for close to 2,000 years and peaks sometime during the summer months. This year, the peak was early Saturday morning before dawn.
The full moon threw a wrench in the plans for a few observers. Many experts also said it was difficult to see the shower if you were near bright city lights. A spot such as Mandeville Canyon Fire Road or Topanga State Park may have taken some Southern California residents far enough away from the hubbub to get a good view. Some observers were even lucky enough to also catch a glimpse of the International Space Station.
Find out what's happening in Pacific Palisadeswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Pali Patch hasn't received any photos from local stargazers yet, but we do have some photos from around the world. A photo from NASA's sky camera image shows a Perseid meteor over Tullahoma, TN. A meteor was also captured by a camera at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope located on top of Mauna Kea, a volcano on the island of Hawaii. Observers in both Poland and in Vancouver, Canada, also had a great location to see the sky light up.
If you have photos to share, please feel free to upload them in the comments section below, or email them to amanda.salem@patch.com.
Find out what's happening in Pacific Palisadeswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
- To view the NASA live chat website, click here.
- To read more about the Perseid meteor shower on Patch, click here.
- To view the Flickr link to the NASA photo above, click here.
- To view the Flickr link to the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope photo above, click here.
- To view the Flickr link to the Poland photo, click here.
- To view the Flickr link to the Vancouver photo, click here.
Patch writer Reza Gostar contributed to this report.
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