Perseid shower peaks with up to 60 shooting stars an hour

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The Perseid meteor shower reached its peak on Tuesday night, offering the potential to see 60 meteors per hour, with some estimates as high as 100 from certain locations, according to German astronomers.

Viewing conditions were hampered by bright moonlight, as the nearly full moon rose together with the area from which the meteors approach Earth, the observatory in Rodewisch in eastern Germany said.

The Perseids are debris from the comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, which Earth crosses in its orbit around the Sun. The dust particles burn up upon entering the planet's atmosphere, producing bright streaks of light. Travelling at about 60 kilometres per second, the Perseids are among the faster meteors and usually disintegrate completely.

The meteors have been visible since the start of August and can be seen until the end of the month, weather permitting, especially from dark locations away from city lights. The shower is so called because it appears to radiate from the constellation Perseus, named after a hero in Greek mythology.

Comet Swift-Tuttle, discovered in 1862, is expected to pass close to Earth again in 2126, when it will be about 22.9 million kilometres away, according to the European Space Agency.

The comet's core measures 26 kilometres in diameter — about two and a half times larger than the asteroid believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs.