The Perseid meteor shower is peaking this weekend as Earth passes through a stream of debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle. Observers from the International Meteor Organization report rates as high as 60 Perseids per hour. That sounds like a good show; in fact, bright moonlight is making many of the meteors difficult to see. Casual observers are experiencing an off-year for the Perseids.
Moonlight was no problem for Stan Nelson of Roswell, New Mexico, who spent peak-night listening to the shower. Nelson monitors the US Air Force Space Surveillance Radar in Texas for echoes of meteors passing over the facility. He recorded this specimen ping at 9:30 am MDT on Aug. 13th.
