The Brilliant Perseids Meteor Shower Peaks This Weekend. Here’s How To Watch

Conditions this year are especially good for meteor viewing.

The “best meteor shower of the year” is coming to a sky near you this weekend.

The annual Perseids meteor shower occurs as Earth passes through the trail left by the enormous Comet Swift-Tuttle, which swings by Earth every 133 years. According to EarthSky, this year’s light show is expected to peak on the mornings of August 11-13, with the best part of the show predicted for August 13 at 3:58 a.m. EST.

And with the moon in waning crescent (appearing as only a sliver in the sky), conditions this year will be ideal for seeing lots of meteors.

“If you’ve got nice clear weather and a good dark sky, you go out just before dawn and you’ll see a Perseid per minute or so,” NASA meteor scientist Bill Cooke told the Associated Press. “That’s a pretty good show.”

The Perseids, which peak during mid-August, are considered the best meteor shower of the year. “With very fast and bright meteors, Perseids frequently leave long ‘wakes’ of light and color behind them as they streak through Earth's atmosphere,” NASA notes.

Viewers can also expect to see fireballs, which are larger explosions of light and color that are brighter and longer than the average meteor.

According to NASA, the Perseids meteor shower is best viewed in the Northern Hemisphere during the pre-dawn hours, “though at times it is possible to view meteors from this shower as early as 10 p.m.”

To maximize your shower viewing experience, Sky & Telescope recommends finding as dark a site as possible. You can use the interactive Light Pollution Map to identify the darkest skies in your area, avoiding the purple, red, and yellow zones.

The Perseids can appear anywhere in the sky. So just “lie on your back, look away from the moon and take in as much sky as you can,” Cooke told the AP.

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