According to a new report, the upcoming Perseid meteor shower is the best regularly-scheduled fireball-producing meteor shower every year. And this year might be better than usual.
Perseid fireballs
Cooke thinks the Perseids are rich in fireballs because of the size of the parent comet.
"Comet Swift-Tuttle has a huge nucleus--about 26 km in diameter," comments Cooke. "Most other comets are much smaller, with nuclei only a few kilometers across. As a result, Comet Swift-Tuttle produces a large number of meteoroids, many of which are large enough to produce fireballs."Here's an example from 2011:
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