Every year around August 12/13th, the Perseid meteor shower peaks. It's a fairly reliable shower that generates 60 or more meteors per hour. Unfortunately, this year the Moon is full at that time, washing out the sky and any fainter shooting stars. Still, it may be worth a shot for you. Meteor Showers Online has some info on the event, and I wrote a post a while back on how to watch meteor showers that still works. Last year, photographer Siddhartha Saha shot a nice time lapse video of the Perseids:
[embed width="610"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJimFSjVAE8[/embed]
At 10 seconds in, one of the meteors leaves what's called a persistent train; a streak of vaporized material that sits in the upper atmosphere and glows. You can see the winds whipping it into a twisted shape. I've never seen this happen myself, but one day... If you miss the Perseids, don't fret: there are plenty ...
