The best photos from 2016's spectacular Perseid meteor shower
The night sky was alive with shooting stars on Thursday as people around the globe experienced one of the most active Perseid meteor showers in a long time.
Every year, the Earth collides with the debris from the Swift-Tuttle comet, which stretches 16 miles across. (Don't worry, we're safe, at least for the foreseeable future.)
All that debris burns up in Earth's atmosphere, providing us with a nice little light show every summer.
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This year, Jupiter was positioned in a way that sent a particularly dense cloud of debris our planet's way.
Don't worry if you were too busy watching the Summer Olympics to catch the show. We rounded up the most spectacular images from 2016's Perseid meteor shower.
And, of course there are some great shots from Instagram:
Eyes to the skies, everyone!
Liza Hearon helped compile this story.
Keith Wagstaff is an assistant editor at Mashable and a terrible Settlers of Catan player. He has written for TIME, The Wall Street Journal Magazine, NBC News, The Village Voice, VICE, GQ and New York Magazine, among many other reputable and not-so-reputable publications. After nearly a decade in New York City, he now lives in his native Los Angeles.
