The Meteor Shower This Weekend Might Bring the Best Stargazing of the Year

Save all your wishes for this weekend. Shooting stars could happen every minute.

From Aug.11–13, the Perseid meteor shower will send between 60 and 70 meteors shooting across the sky every hour. The meteor shower's peak is expected to occur the night of Sunday, Aug. 12 into the wee hours of Monday morning.

This weekend’s show is expected to be particularly spectacular. The Perseids happen every year, but this year’s crescent moon will make the sky darker, allowing the meteors to shine.

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"The moon is very favorable for the Perseids this year, and that'll make the Perseids probably the best shower of 2018 for people who want to go out and view it,” NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke told Space.com.

Those who live in areas with little light pollution will be able to see the shower best, if there’s clear weather. Urban dwellers can check out Active Junky’s guide to the best places in major metropolitan areas to watch the astral phenomenon.

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If you’re planning on watching the Perseid meteor shower, bear in mind that it will take at least 30 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the darkness. The longer you’re outside in the dark, the better your vision of the meteors will be. The best time to be outside to catch the peak is between midnight and dawn. Stargazers won’t need to look at any particular point in the sky to catch a glimpse of a shooting meteor. They should be everywhere.

“Relax, be patient, and let your eyes adapt to the darkness,” J. Kelly Beatty, senior editor of Sky & Telescope magazine, said in a statement. "The Perseids will put on a great show."