Photosynthesis: Chemical process by which plants containing chlorophyll use sunlight to manufacture their own food by converting carbon dioxide and water to carbohydrates, releasing oxygen as a by-product. Respiration: The process in which oxygen is used to break down organic compounds into carbon dioxide and water.
The Perseid meteor shower, one of the brighter meteor showers of the year, occurs every year between July 17 and August 24. The shower tends to peak around August 9-13. The best time to view the Perseids, and most other meteor showers, is when the sky is the darkest.
Everyone enjoys the brief and sometimes dazzling streaks of light from meteors, sometimes called shooting stars.. Sky & Telescope predicts that the two best meteor showers in 2017 will be the Quadrantids in early January and the Geminids in mid-December. 1  During the 2004 Geminid meteor shower, Alan Dyer caught a bright fireball with a tripod-mounted digital camera.