Not every summer tradition happens on the ground. Some take place hundreds of miles overhead, one meteor at a time. The Perseids return every year from mid-July through late August, reaching their peak around 12-13 August. Visible across much of the world, they often produce dozens of meteors per hour under dark skies. Picture yourself looking up. One streak appears after another. How many can you spot before you lose count? Each streak comes from debris shed by Comet Swift-Tuttle as Earth moves through its dust trail. The meteors appear to radiate from the constellation Perseus.
Perseid meteor shower over Tenerife, Spain
Today in History
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Secluded sands in Mexico
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Burns Night
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International Bat Appreciation Day
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Reed bunting
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A prehistoric pavement
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Victoria Street in Edinburgh, Scotland
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Glastonbury Festival begins
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Halloween
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Celebrating the Scottish bard
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International Day for Biological Diversity
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Mont-Saint-Michel, Normandy, France
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Mid-Autumn Festival
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Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA
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International Cheetah Day
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Gunnerside, Yorkshire Dales National Park, England
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Remembering D-Day
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Fireflies glowing above a stream, Okayama Prefecture, Japan
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Winter solstice
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International Zebra Day
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Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho, USA
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Christmas star lanterns, Germany
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World Turtle Day
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A high-flying royal tradition
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Check out these ‘sea cows’
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Methoni Castle, Messinia, Greece
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Bormio, Lombardy, Italy
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Skagit Valley Tulip Festival
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The Nutcracker performed by the Turkish State Opera and Ballet in Ankara
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Ljubljana, Slovenia
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Ocracoke Lighthouse on Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, USA
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