The annual Perseid meteor shower happens when Earth crosses paths with debris from Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. This celestial event reached its peak overnight, coinciding with a new moon, creating optimal stargazing conditions as moonlight did not obstruct the view. Witness the shooting stars in the images below.
Images captured at Mount Ramon in the Negev Desert, near Mitzpe Ramon, Israel, show Perseid meteor streaks lighting up the sky early Thursday. In Croatia, observers at the Visnjan Observatory enjoyed watching a meteor streak across the night sky on Wednesday. Another striking image captures a meteor streaking above the Stone Dolls of Kuklica, near Kratovo, North Macedonia, in the early hours of Thursday.
In Belgrade, Serbia, people gathered at the Monument to the Unknown Hero on Mount Avala to witness the Perseid meteor shower. Over in southern Bosnia-Herzegovina, a meteor streaked across the night sky above the ancient Illyrian city of Daorson near Stolac, illuminating the megalithic stone walls. Meanwhile, spectators in Jacobsdorf, Germany, observed a meteor with a green tail and the trails of two satellites during the Perseid meteor shower on Wednesday. Lastly, a Perseid meteor streaked across the night sky behind St. Mark’s Tower, a 17th-century coastal fortification near Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq in Malta.
