Perseid Meteor Shower Alert!!

It's one of the best meteor showers during the year and it peaks this weekend. And this year will be a little extra special because the shower coincides with a new moon, so we won't have extra light to wash out the smaller meteors.

So here are the basics:

• Try to get away from the city lights - the darker the sky, the better
• Peak is Sunday night and early Monday morning, but you can still see quite a few if you decide to go out searching Saturday night.
• Prime viewing will take place from midnight through pre-dawn hours.
• Just look straight up (or wherever the sky is darkest)
• NASA analysis indicates that Perseid meteors tend to be brighter than other meteor showers

What's the forecast for Sunday night? 
We should have decent viewing conditions. It's looking like some clouds will be spreading in from the south. These will most likely be high clouds, so not the kind that completely block our view. However, viewing conditions might be better farther north where you get closer to virtually cloud-free skies.

Did you know?

• A meteor is very small - ranging from the size of sand up to pea size
• Meteors move at roughly 37 miles per second
• If you trace a meteor backwards, it will point you toward the constellation Perseus, which is where the shower gets it's name from
• The Perseid meteor shower was discovered around 1837