The Perseid summer light show is back — and viewing conditions are especially promising for the Northern Hemisphere. The meteor shower’s peak Wednesday night into Thursday morning coincides with a total solar eclipse across Spain, Iceland and Greenland and a six-planet parade — though the best time to view the fireballs will come after totality.

How to Spot the Perseid Meteor Shower

As many as 50 to 100 meteors per hour may be visible under ideal conditions, according to NASA. The American Meteor Society estimates 30 to 50 meteors per hour could be seen from rural regions. Random meteors are visible in dark skies on any given night. Meteor showers tend to put on dazzling celestial shows and happen at predictable times every year when the Earth plows through trails of debris left behind by comets and, sometimes, asteroids.

The Perseids are debris from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, an icy ball that orbits the sun every 133 years and isn’t scheduled for a return visit until 2125. Observations of this meteor shower date back over 2,000 years. The Perseids are a perennial favorite because they tend to produce brilliant fireballs. Summer temperatures also make this shower popular.

Astronomer Zach Vanderbosch with McDonald Observatory in Texas notes, “We don’t have to suffer through a cold winter night to get a good view of meteors.” The moon will be in its new moon phase during the Perseids’ peak, making viewing conditions even better.

To spot the meteors, go outside after dark, away from clouds and city lights. The best views will be between midnight and dawn when the constellation Perseus is high in the northern sky. The meteors will appear to radiate from that constellation. Look up and give your eyes a half hour to adjust to the darkness.

Original reporting: Texarkana Gazette — read the source article.