2016 Perseid meteor shower offers a once-in-a-decade ‘outburst’

Meteors traverse the night sky under stars that appear to rotate above Corfe Castle in the United Kingdom on Friday. The Perseid meteor shower occurs every year when the Earth passes through the cloud of debris left by Comet Swift-Tuttle.

Meteors traverse the night sky under stars that appear to rotate above Corfe Castle in the United Kingdom on Friday. The Perseid meteor shower occurs every year when the Earth passes through the cloud of debris left by Comet Swift-Tuttle.

  (Dan Kitwood / Getty Images)

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2016 Perseid meteor shower

A meteor can be seen in the night sky during the Perseid meteor shower in Jankowo, Poland, on Thursday.

  (Lukasz Ogrodowczyk / EPA)

2016 Perseid meteor shower

A Perseid meteor streaks across the sky above Inspiration Point early Friday in Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah.

  (Ethan Miller / Getty Images)

2016 Perseid meteor shower

In this long exposure photo, a streak appears in the sky above a stone cross during the annual Perseid meteor shower at the Guadarrama mountains, near Madrid, in the early hours of Friday.

  (Francisco Seco / Associated Press)

2016 Perseid meteor shower

A Perseid meteor streaks the sky above Marganell, in Catalonia, northeast Spain.

  (Marta Perez / EPA)

2016 Perseid meteor shower

A Perseid meteor shoots across the sky behind a wind turbine near Kavarna, Bulgaria.

  (Vassil Donev / EPA)

2016 Perseid meteor shower

A Perseid meteor can be seen above San Miguel de Aguayo village, in Cantabria, northwest Spain.

  (Pedro Puente Hoyos / EPA)

2016 Perseid meteor shower

A Perseid meteor streaks across the sky above trees Friday in the central Israeli village of Luzit.

  (Menahem Kahana / AFP/Getty Images)