Meteor Shower This Weekend

A meteor shower will peak on Saturday evening and Sunday morning, producing as many as 100 shooting stars an hour as the Earth makes its annual rendezvous with the Perseid meteors this weekend.

Meteor Shower This Weekend

NASA recommends heading out between 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. local time, before the moon rises to avoid the glare that will wash out many of the shooting stars. 

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The Perseid shower is expected to peak on Saturday, but since the peak is broad, Friday night may be good or better than Saturday, the space agency said.

But beware, a bright moon may block out what could be a specrtacular show.  Steve Stone writes that while it could produce 50 to 60 meteors per hour, the trick will be to pick them out in a bright night sky.

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The glare of the moon, which will be 87 percent full, "will overwhelm most Perseids," said NASA astronomer Tony Phillips, who is based at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

His suggestion is to get a seat before the moon rises so that means get out and look at the night sky before the moon comes up (again - get out early before 10 p.m.).  Good luck sky watchers.

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The Perseids last until about Aug. 24.

--Jack Kramer with wire reports