Strictly speaking, the Perseids have nothing to do with Perseus. The annual summer meteor shower owes its name to the constellation of the Greek mythological hero from which it appears to fall. However, the shooting stars actually originate from a comet with the somewhat unwieldy name 109P/Swift-Tuttle. Every year in mid-August, the Earth crosses its dust trail. This causes the small comet particles to enter the Earth’s atmosphere at high speed, where they burn up and become visible as bright trails of light. Some even briefly reach the brightness of…
Read MorePerseid meteor shower tonight: Summer stardust
