Today's Google Doodle celebrates the ongoing Perseid meteor shower

Today, Google is celebrating the Perseid meteor shower with an animated doodle. Google has made a time-lapse-like video of the ongoing Perseid meteor shower that shows a changing sky with the celestial phenomenon, set to suitably soothing audio.

The doodle is in the form of a small video clip that shows the sky take on various colours and locations around the world, with meteorites raining down. We can’t help but see the resemblance to viewing the shower from your window. This year’s Perseid meteor shower will peak between August 10 and August 13.

The Perseid meteor shower is associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle. The Perseids are so-called because the point from which they appear to come, called the radiant, lies in the constellation Perseus.

Though the skies are known to light up several time a year by several meteor showers, the Perseids is believed to be widely sought by astronomers and stargazers. The reason is, at its peak, one can witness 60 to a 100 meteors within an hour from a dark place.

The Perseid meteor shower was first noticed by Adolphe Quetelet in the year 1835. Some Catholics also refer to the Perseids as the “tears of St. Lawrence”, since 10 August is the date of that saint’s martyrdom.