How to see the year's best meteor shower tonight

Right now the best shooting star show of the year is happening: the peak of the Perseid meteor shower. People have been viewing this annual event pretty much as long as we’ve been recording history. But what are we really looking at when we gaze up to see these faint streaks of light shoot across the sky? And what can you do to get the best view of them? We dive into those questions on this edition of Spacing Out, which also gets into the latest news about the Sun and the tea behind the SpaceX rocket crashing into the moon. Interested in more space news? Let us know! Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org . Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org . See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy