Explained: What is the Perseids meteor shower set to peak mid-August?

News: The Perseids meteor shower is going to be active from August 17th to 26th,2020.

Facts:

• Perseids: It is a meteor shower that peaks every year in mid-August.It was first observed over 2,000 years ago.It occurs as the Earth runs into pieces of cosmic debris left behind by the comet Swift-Tuttle.

Additional Facts:

• Comets: They are cosmic snowballs of frozen gases, rock and dust that orbit the Sun.
• Meteors: These are bits of rock and ice that are ejected from comets as they manoeuvre around their orbits around the sun.
• Meteor Shower: It is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate or originate from one point in the night sky. 
  • These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth’s atmosphere at extremely high speeds on parallel trajectories.