Perseid meteor shower

Stargazers on a tour with California Overland Desert relax on a dry lake bed in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and watch astronomer writer and photographer Dennis Mammana use a green lazer to point out objects in the night sky. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Aug. 13, 2013 9:06 AM PT

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The Perseid meteor shower occurs every August when Earth passes through debris and dust of the Swift-Tuttle comet.

A Catholic church is seen on a time-exposure during the Perseid meteor shower near the village of Bogushevichi in Belarus. (TATYANA ZENKOVICH / EPA)

A time-exposure photograph of people watching for the Perseid meteor shower in the night sky near Yangon. (YE AUNG THU / AFP/Getty Images)

A shooting star streaks across the sky over the archaeological site Stobi in Macedonia. (GEORGI LICOVSKI / EPA)

A 15-minute exposure shows stars and meteors during the Perseid meteor shower in Imjingak Pyeonghwa-Nuri park in Paju, South Korea. (KIM JAE-SUN / EPA)

Stargazers on a tour with California Overland Desert Excursions watch the night sky above Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in Southern California as a meteor streaks by during the annual Perseid meteor shower. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

A multiple-exposure image shows the Perseid meteor shower lighting the sky near La Hiruela, on the mountains of the Sierra Norte de Madrid. (Dani Pozo / AFP/Getty Images)

A Perseid meteor streaks across the sky over the Mojave Desert in Landers. (Paul Buck / EPA)

Stars seen as streaks from a long camera exposure are seen behind and above a roadside silhouette of a Spanish fighting bull in Villarejo de Salvanes, central Spain. (Paul White / Associated Press)