The Perseid Meteor Shower is underway!

Starting on July 17th and continues through August 24th, this is arguably the best meteor shower of the year.

For one thing, warm summer nights make for comfortable viewing conditions and the duration of the shower means one cloudy night won’t ruin the entire show.

While we can see the Perseids any given night through August 24th, the peak of the shower is August 12th and 13th.

The Perseids are pieces of dust, rock and ice from the Comet Swift- Tuttle.

As the Earth passes through the comet’s tail, these small pieces of debris burn up in our atmosphere with spectacular fireballs.

By the time the shower peaks, we can see as many as 100 meteors per hour.

For best viewing, darker environments away from the city are suggested.

The best time each night for viewing is between midnight and dawn, but if you’re not a night owl, the Perseids are visible any night after 9 p.m.

Wednesday night’s weather is ideal for viewing with a midnight temperature around 70 degrees and mostly clear skies.

Thursday night will good as well, but storms Friday night will make for mostly cloudy skies through much of the evening.