S25 · E09

The Perseids

Meteors, or shooting stars, space debris shed by comets travelling round the sun, can produce brilliant displays and the Perseids, seen each year between 27 July and 17 August, are unusually spectacular. They are of special interest during the early 1980s, because the comet associated with them - Swift-Tuttle - is due back having been unobserved for 120 years. Patrick Moore talks to John Mason , who led an expedition to France to study the Perseids, and looks forward to the return of Halley's Comet, which also is associated with meteor showers.