The average piece of “interplanetary dust”, as these tiny fragments are referred to in the next paragraph, is usually smaller than 1 milimetre in diameter. (1 µm equals one-thousandth of a millimetre, or 0.001 mm)

This is the exact reason as to why meteor showers are visible in the dark: when these fragments enter the atmosphere its atoms heat up, producing warmth but also light.

The small fragments are mixes of numerous elements and compounds, the most-common being “silicates and glassy nodules with perhaps a few sulphides, metals and other minerals and carbonaceous material.” (through Weirdwarp).

Once the fragments burn up the outcome gets taken up into the atmosphere, literally feeding it with random materials.

Just like the “collisions between asteroids or comets”, the solar system’s formation is ages old. These two solutions are given because of that fact, a longer existence means that it could have been affected by the circumstances surrounding it more, thus making up for immensely small pieces of “tiny fragments only about as wide as a piece of human hair.”

Worded very similar, the original NASA post also has a picture at the site with some text, which goes as following:

Larger meteoroids cause bright flashes of light when they hit Earth’s atmosphere, such as this fireball caught during the Perseid meteor shower Aug. 12, 2006. The bulk of meteoric activity is much less showy: Some 10 to 40 tons of meteor dust enter our atmosphere every day.

The Leonids are a lot less enjoyable for night-time watchers than the Perseids, with only an approximate amount of 15 meteors an hour visible to the eye, at its peak in middle November (the night of the 16th to 17th). 2013 is also not the best year you could pick to view these, considering that there will be a full moon shining during the peak.

A meteor from the Leonids showers:

Aside from the aforementioned rate at which you can see Perseid meteors the most beautiful thing about them is that they often leave “trains” of dust, as they’re called. This dust reflects the light around it and stays shining for a little longer, showing off glistering streaks of light.

The Perseid meteors usually peak between the 9th and the 14th of August, meaning that they’re right on time this year. NASA has claimed the amount of meteors might even peak at 100 an hour, with an approximate velocity of 37 miles/59 kilometers an hour.

A Perseid meteor striking over the Pacific Ocean: