This weekend you can catch one of the year's best shows right in your backyard, as August's annual Perseid meteor shower will peak Sunday and Monday evening with 70 meteors and hour, USA Today reports.
The Perseid showers streak across the night sky at around 134,000 mph as they collide with the upper atmosphere. Named after constellation Perseus, based on a Greek mythology hero born from a shower of gold from the heavens, the dust grains of the meteors (about one-fifth of an inch across) come from Comet Swift-Tuttle, which circles the sun every 133 years and leaves a trail behind it.
"The Perseids are the good ones," meteorite expert Bill Cooke of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. told USA Today, adding this is in part due to their size.
Comets develop tails of debris as they approach the sun and begin to melt, according to USA Today, responsible for regular meteor showers from April's Lyrids to November's Leonids.
However, if you want to see the meteor shower at its peak, the best time to do so will be late at night. Astronomy magazine's Michael Bakich told USA Today that after the half-moon sets at 1 a.m. is when the shower will be at its best for viewing, though you can also see it before and after peak hours, which are from midnight to dawn.
"Get out of the city and the lights to give yourself a chance to see them," Bakich advised, explaining that you should be able to see all the stars of the Big Dipper (seven) to allow for enough darkness to witness the shower, and should also give your eyes about an hour to adjust.
"There will be a dozen 'ooh' moments in that hour," Bakich said. "Ones when everyone will say, 'Did you see that?'" Bakich advises looking about one-third of the sky down from the constellation Perseus to best spot the meteors.
Cook advises to just lie on your back and enjoy the show, weather permitting.
Click here to see more photos from the Perseid meteor shower from years past.
