NASA said brilliant meteors will be present in the night skies on Aug. 2 and 3 as the Earth moves through a trail of debris left behind by the Swift-Tuttle comet.

Cameras at NASA recorded bright meteors Sunday night in the skies of New Mexico. The meteor show has just begun since the Earth is currently moving through a field of debris left behind by the Swift-Tuttle comet, according to Space Weather.

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The incoming shower is the Perseid meteor shower. The shower is so named because the point where the shooting stars seem to emanate from, called the radiant, rests on the constellation of Perseus. Perseid is derived from the Greek word Perseides referring to the sons of Perseus.

The shower usually builds slowly to a peak. NASA observed at least five of the fireballs during the weekend although the apex of the event is expected to fall on the mornings of Aug. 11,12 and 13.

The moon, however, will give off a glare that will flood the sky with light during these dates, reducing the number of meteors seen per hour from 120, the usual Perseid peak count, to less than 30.

The Perseid meteor shower is exclusive to stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere. The south, however, has its own celestial show.

The Delta Aquariids originating from the breakups of the Kracht and Marsden comets are visible a week earlier than the Perseid event. While the Perseid's origin seems to come from the Perseus series of stars, the Delta Aquariids' radiant appears to lie on the Aquarius constellation.

The shower reaches a maximum hourly rate of 15 to 20 meteors in the sky at its approximate peak of July 29 to 30. Unlike the Perseid shower, the event will not be masked by the moon's glow, with the moon setting at early evening. 

TagsMeteor Shower 2014, meteors, NASA, Debris, Stars