View at EarthSky Community Photos . | Moonlight obscured the peak of the Perseid meteor shower this year; many are saying the shower was sparse. But some people did see meteors. Radu Anghel of Bacau, Romania captured this image on August 13, 2019. He wrote, “We noticed that it was like a 10-minute window between bright meteors … So we grabbed the chairs and smiled to the stars. In less than 2 minutes the stars smiled back! Live long and prosper! :)” Thank you, Radu!
View at EarthSky Community Photos . | Nicholas Holshouser was on the Blue Ridge Parkway , Milepost 413, when he captured this meteor on August 13, 2019. He wrote: “I’ve been out looking for Perseid for many days, going out later and later as the moon was setting later and later. On Tuesday I knew I’d have only a short window from moon set (about 4:55 a.m. here) and nautical twilight so I arrived early and setup several cameras. This shot is oriented towards the NNW and another meteor followed it within a minute, though not as bright. All in all it was a good morning as I captured 8 meteors (some very faint) on camera and saw several more well up in the sky. That’s an old fire tower (Frying Pan Tower) in the distance and the lights of the Pisgah Inn on the Blue Ridge Parkway to the right of the tower.” Thank you, Nicholas!
View at EarthSky Community Photos . | Dr Ski in Valencia, Philippines, wrote: “Only Perseid I was able to capture in the bright lunar glare! The Pleiades is at the upper left corner.” Thank you, Dr Ski.
View at EarthSky Community Photos . | Dennis Schoenfelder in Alamosa County, Colorado, wrote on August 13, 2019: “We finally had a clear sky!”
View at EarthSky Community Photos . | Riste Spiroski in Ohrid, Macedonia, captured this image on August 13, 2019, and wrote: “This is a picture of a fireball that I shot today with my friends in Ohrid at around 4:50 a.m., just minutes before the blue hour. We started shooting at 3 a.m. and looked at the sky as we were waiting for the moonset for a better view and hopefully take good pictures.”
View larger . | Eliot Herman in Tucson, Arizona, caught this earthgrazer on the night of August 12, 2019. Notice its colors! And see the photo below, which shows that he caught this meteor in bright moonlight. Thanks, Eliot!
Eliot Herman has a couple of automatic camera setups at his home in Tucson, Arizona. Here’s a second image of the same meteor captured above. The bright object in the lower right is the moon!
View at EarthSky Community Photos . | Alan Willett in Madison captured this meteor on August 13, 2019. Thanks, Alan!
View at EarthSky Community Photos . | Andrea Deegan at Oyster Harbour in Western Australia wrote: “First clear night for a week. Facing east. I made 10 images but this the only one with a meteor.” Thank you, Andrea! By the way, y’all, the object in the upper right looks like the Large Magellanic Cloud.
View at EarthSky Community Photos . | For some, the best meteor-watching hours, shortly before dawn, were a chance to escape the heat and catch a few meteors. Vlad Dumitrescu in Romania caught this image on the morning of August 11. He wrote: “We went out observing and stayed until after the moon went down. The radiant went higher and activity improved. It was a good night to look up and enjoy nice temperatures, after some rough daylight hours, 37 degrees Celsius [98.6 degrees Fahrenheit] warm. Clear skies!” Thank you, Vlad!
View at EarthSky Community Photos . | Tom Wildoner of the Dark Side Observatory in Weatherly, Pennsylvania, has an automatic camera setup for meteor observing. He caught this one on August 11 and wrote: “After a quick review of 700 images captured last evening, I only captured a single bright Perseid meteor … You can see this bright meteor streak above center near the constellation Cassiopeia (sideways W) and pointing in the direction of Perseus. The brighter stars have been enhanced in this image to help orient your view, North is marked on the image.” Thanks, Tom!
View larger . Annie Lewis told us, “Finally the clouds cleared. Perseid meteor just before dawn (August 13, 2019) in Madrid, Spain.” Thank you, Annie!
View at EarthSky Community Photos . | Meteors in the same field of view as the Andromeda galaxy. Omid Ghadrdan in Iran caught the scene on August 11, 2019, and wrote, “What can I say? Wonders of the universe. Just compare the golfball-sized meteors with the galaxy bigger than ours.” Thank you, Omid!
Bottom line: Photos from the 2019 Perseid meteor shower.
Deborah Byrd
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About the Author:
Deborah Byrd created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Prior to that, she had worked for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio series. Today, she serves as Editor-in-Chief of this website. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. In 2020, she won the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society, the largest organization of professional astronomers in North America. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.