... The date was July 4th and the fiery streaks were part of the traditional annual celebration of independence day in the United States . Fiery streaks from another annual event will revisit dark skies this weekend, as shooting stars arc through the night during the much anticipated Perseid Meteor Shower . Perseid meteors are actually bits of dust from the periodic Comet Swift-Tuttle and once each year planet Earth orbits through Swift-Tuttle's cometary dust stream. ... NASA Official: Jay Norris. ...