The annual Perseid meteor shower reached its peak Sunday night with as many as 60 shooting stars streaking across the sky each hour into the early hours of Monday. This year's event coincided with a new moon phase of the lunar cycle, allowing for a darker show and brighter celestial spectacle. Stargazers and photographers around the world stepped outside to look for the blazing fireballs and above you'll find images of last night's peak. Many Bay Area residents saw little in the sky due to foggy conditions. "Too cloudy to see the Perseids, as usual for the Bay Area." Tweeted @explodedsoda. "Maybe it'll be clearer when I wake up to pee at 4am." But outside the urban areas, the show was clear and bright. "Drove up to Tahoe last night to watch the Perseid Meteor shower and play with the telescope at the Bright Star Observatory," wrote CodyDarkstalker on Twitter. "So cool to see Mars and the rings of Saturn and the meteor showers and the milky way." The Perseids light up the sky every year when the Earth passes through the cloud of debris left by Comet Swift-Tuttle, and appear to radiate from the constellation Perseus in the northeastern sky. The 2018 Perseids run from July 17 to Aug. 24, but the peak occurred on Aug. 12 and most of the shooting stars will have passed with only a few strays etched across the sky.<doc-sep>The Perseid meteor shower, a phenomenon producing up to 60 to 70 meteors per hour in the night's sky, peaked over the weekend. The meteor shower was best viewed on the nights of Aug. 11-12 and Aug. 12-13. The Perseid meteor shower occurs annually, every summer and this year can be seen through Aug. 24. At best, a typical Perseid meteor shower produces 80 to a few hundred meteors per hour. In ancient Greek star lore, Perseus is the son of the god Zeus and the mortal Danae, according to Earthsky. It is said the Perseid shower commemorates the time when Zeus visited Danae, the mother of Perseus, in a shower of gold. Telescopes are not usually required to see meteor showers, as space rocks enter the Earth's atmosphere and hot air triggers glowing streaks visible to the naked eye. Here are a few images photographers shared of the meteor shower: Contributing: Doyle Rice, USA TODAY. Follow Ashley May on Twitter: @AshleyMayTweets<doc-sep>Advertisement The Perseid meteor shower arrived this weekend, stunning stargazers around the world as more than 70 shooting stars flashed across the night sky every hour. Known as the 'fiery tears of Saint Lawrence', the celestial showcase takes place each year when the Earth ploughs through the galactic debris left discarded by the passing of the Swift-Tuttle Comet. People both north and south of the equator were able to watch and photograph the stunning celestial showcase this weekend, and will enjoy one final opportunity to see the Perseids tonight. Those in mid-northern latitudes will have the best views of the display, with stellar views expected across the United States, Europe, and Canada. With a slice of good fortune and clear skies, people looking skyward in Mexico and Central America, Asia, much of Africa, and parts of South America may also be able to catch a glimpse of the occasional meteor. Those south of the equator will catch the tail-end of the meteor shower, since the vast majority of the event will take place below the horizon, diminishing the impact of the phenomenon. Nasa says the meteor shower reached its peak earlier in the weekend between 4 pm ET (9 pm BST) on Sunday 12th until 4 am (9 am BST) this morning. However, the event will continue tonight. Although the number of shooting stars etched across the night sky will be somewhat diminished, this evening will provide people around the world a chance to see the spectacular annual event unfold. Stray shooting stars will be visible until August 24, but these will be much harder to spot as the majority of the meteors will have already passed. This year sees the event coincides with the new moon phase of the lunar cycle, which sees the moon emanating almost no light at all – creating perfect conditions in the sky for stargazing. Scroll down for video This picture, taken over Loch Etive, near Taynuilt in Argyll on the West coast of Scotland, shows a Perseid meteor (top left) together with the Milky Way, Mars and Saturn. The annual meteor shower can produce between 50 and 100 shooting stars per hour and conditions this year are expected to be ideal with the darkened New Moon keeping the skies dark Perseid meteors streak across the sky over the radar near the Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic in Ondrejov, Czech Republic. The Perseid meteor shower occurs every year in August when the Earth passes through the debris and dust of the Swift-Tuttle comet which spans 16-miles (28 km) wide and ploughs through our Solar System once every 133 years For those in areas with low light pollution, no smog and clear skies, the Perseids are visible to the naked eye, with no specialist equipment needed. The meteor shower takes place at the same time each year, as the Earth passes though a section of its orbit peppered with galactic space dust leftover from the last passing of the Swift-Tuttle Comet. The Swift-Tuttle Comet, which spans 16-miles (28 km) wide and is formed of ice and rock, ploughs through our Solar System once every 133 years, with the last pass coming in 1992. The comet will come within one million miles of Earth on August 5, 2126 and August 24, 2261. The name 'Perseids meteor shower' comes from the fact meteors appear to shoot out from the Perseus constellation – the 24th largest constellation in the sky. The annual meteor shower is known for the sheer quantity, including the possibility of bright fireballs in the sky. A girl lies in hammock as she looks at the milky way during the peak of Perseid meteor shower in Kozjak, Macedonia. People both north and south of the equator saw the celestial showcase and will get one last opportunity to see the Perseids tonight HOW CAN YOU SEE THE PERSEID METEOR SHOWER THIS YEAR? Shooting stars will be visible north and south of the equator, though observers in mid-northern latitudes will have the best views, according to NASA. Some Perseid meteors will even be visible during the early evening The Perseid meteor shower will reach the beginning of its peak at 4pm (ET) on Sunday the 12th. This will last until 4am on the 13th. As the event coincides with the new moon this year, observers will be treated to a dark, moonless sky for a clearer view of the meteors. North of the equator: Observers in the United States, Europe, and Canada should begin looking to the sky from a few hours after twilight until dawn. The same goes for viewers in Mexico and Central America, Asia, much of Africa, and parts of South America. South of the equator: Meteors will be visible for those south of the equator, too, though not at the rate seen in more northern areas. For viewers in Australia and other southern locations, meteors will start to appear in the sky around midnight and continue through the early hours of the morning. You won't need binoculars to spot a shooting star this weekend, nor do you need to look directly at the constellation Perseus. Instead, just look up. NASA says you 'can look anywhere you want to,' to see the Perseids, 'even directly overhead.' Advertisement Known as the 'fiery tears of Saint Lawrence', the celestial showcase takes place once a year. This image was taken over the village of Klinovka, Simferopol District of the Crimea and shows a long-exposure image of the meteor shower on August 12 According to Nasa, the meteor shower reached its peak earlier this weekend between 4 pm ET (9 pm BST) on Sunday 12th until 4 am (9 am BST) on Monday 13th. This image was captured over the Windy Post Cross on Dartmoor. The Windy Cross, or Beckamoor Cross, dated from the 16 Century and marks the Abbotsí Way across the moor For those in areas with low light pollution, smog and clear skies, the Perseids are visible to the naked eye, with no specialist equipment needed. Those in mid-northern latitudes, such as in the Crimean village of Klinovka where this photo of the shooting stars was taken, will have the best view of the celestial event Most of the specks of material are tiny and flash across the night sky when they collide with Earth's atmosphere at about 133,200 mph (214,365 km/h). During the meteor shower's peak, skywatchers in the northern hemisphere saw between 60 to 70 shooting stars cross the sky every hour. Although fewer will be visible tonight, well-positioned spectators can expect to see dozens of 'shooting stars' every hour. According to Nasa, the odd stray meteor will likely be visible until August 24, though rates will drop after today's peak. 'Unlike most meteor showers, which have a short peak of high meteor rates,' Nasa explains, 'the Perseids have a very broad peak, as Earth takes more than three weeks to plow through the wide trail of cometary dust from comet Swift-Tuttle.' The Perseid meteor shower occurs as Earth passes through the trail of cometary dust following comet Swift-Tuttle (illustrated above) A meteor streaks through the night sky, past Mars (yellow dot, centre left), during the Perseid meteor shower over the lake of Kozjak, some 30 miles (45km) from the capitol Skopje, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on August 13 A meteor streaks across the skies over the cross near the Franciscan monastery Rama-Scit during the peak of the Perseid meteor shower in Prozor, Bosnia and Herzegovina on August 13 Luckily, less than ten per cent of Britain is built up, leaving lots of places where the cityscape will not obscure the natural beauty of the Perseids. There are just 11 Dark Sky Reserves in the world, and the UK is home to four: Brecon Beacons National Park (Wales), Moore's Reserve (South Downs, England), Snowdonia National Park (Wales) and Exmoor National Park (England). The others are scattered around the world, with locations listed in Europe, the US, Africa and New Zealand. These locations, assuming the weather is clear and there are no clouds in the sky, provide an 'exceptional or distinguished quality of starry nights and nocturnal environment'.<doc-sep>
Perseid meteor shower: Incredible time-lapse shows shower peak Dozens of atmospheric impacts were registered by UK-based radio detectors scanning the skies for unusual radio frequencies. At the Exeter Observatory in Matford, Devon, tens of dozens Perseid meteors were detected during the shower’s peak. The Perseid shower dramatically intensified between Sunday, August 12, and the morning of Monday, August 13. During the peak as many as 50 to 60 meteors punched their way through the atmosphere every hour, producing bright streaks of light and erupting fireballs in the sky. When a meteor strikes the Earth’s atmosphere at a high velocity it creates a lot of “atmospheric noise” which fine-tuned radio detectors can pick up. A speeding meteor starts off with high frequency wavelengths and decreases to a radio carrier frequency as it decelerates above the Earth. The meteors increase in strength as they burn up and ionise the gas around them. The ionisation is what produces the Perseids’ characteristic trails of colourful light. Perseids 2018: The spectacular fireballs were registered on radio detectors The Exeter Observatory explained: “When a meteor strikes the Earth’s atmosphere it decelerates rapidly. “The friction created by the air causes the meteor to burn up at extremely high temperatures creating the white ‘shooting star’ that we are all familiar with. “This process also ionises the air along the trail making it possible to reflect radio waves.” High-powered radar signals blasted into the sky bounce back from the ionised trails and shift in frequency to varying degrees, depending on the meteor’s speed. When observed back on Earth by the Exeter Observatory’s astronomers, the resulting radio frequency charts look like steep triangles. The width, height and overall shape of each frequency spike can tell astronomers a lot about each individual fireball impact. In the picture below, the blue frequencies are the baseline atmospheric noise and the bright red to orange spikes are the Perseid fireballs. Astronomer John Maclean, Exeter Observatory, tweeted a number of the charts during the peak every time a bigger fireball was picked up by the radio detectors. Perseids 2018: The Exeter Observatory recorded reflected radio waves from the meteors At one point the space expert tweeted: “Boom! Lovely meteor hit on our radio detectors!” Boom! Lovely meteor hit on our radio detectors! John Maclean, Exeter Observatory The Perseids were expected to erupt at night roughly once every minute or so, but the Observatory’s records show some fireballs appeared much more frequently than that. One radio frequency chart shows three distinct spikes between 12.22am UT and 12.23am UT on August 12. The Perseids were also detected by a network of webcams positioned around the country and mounted by the UK Meteor Observation Network (UKMON). You can browse UKMON’s gallery of Perseid snapshots by clicking here. Perseids 2018: The annual meteor shower is one of the biggest of the year