If, like me, clouds and city lights have so far ruined your view of the Perseid meteor shower then you might enjoy this beautiful Meteor Showers From Space interactive map. The peak viewing time to see the Perseids was on Aug 12 & 13, although the shower will be active for much of August.
The Perseid meteor shower is caused by Earth passing through the ice and rock debris tail of Comet Swift-Tuttle. You can view a simulation of the comet's tail on the Meteor Showers From Space interactive map. This map simulates the path of the comet's tail over time (starting in August of this year). You can select to overlay the orbits of the planets around the sun on top of this simulation. You can also select your viewpoint of the Perseids (from Earth or from the Solar System).
Meteor Showers From Space also allows you to explore simulations of a number of other meteor showers, including the Leonids, the Ursids and Lyrids. You can also select to view 'Everything at once' if you want to see all 12 available meteor showers on the same map.
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