Every August, Earth passes through the ancient debris trail of comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, and for a few hours between midnight and dawn, the sky fills with fire that humans have been watching for over two thousand years. This year, the Perseid meteor shower peaks under unusually favorable conditions — a new moon, warm summer air, and the promise of fifty to a hundred meteors per hour for those willing to seek out the dark. It is one of those rare moments when the cosmos asks nothing of us except stillness and the patience to look up.